Blood Diamonds

Introduction:

De Beers is a chain of companies with branches in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada, founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888. It is currently managed by a German, Jewish Oppenheimer. It is a private held company with its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company mainly deals with diamond marketing (mainly to Diamond Syndicate based in London), product promotion and community development whereby the company develops the immediate community around them. The company carries out its activities in open mines, underground mining, deep sea mining and large-scale alluvial mining. It has an approximated number of employees at 20000 people and earns revenue of approximately U.S $6.8 Billion.

Initially, the company faced a number of challenges such as the Second Boer War, which was a threat to the company's major mines in southern Africa, but |Cecil countered this by exerting pressure on the British Armies by producing shell and guns (Long Cecil). In the early 1890s, De Beer Company was facing an economic depression. Again, Cecil responded to this by breaking the company's monopoly by announcing shares for the company. The company is however known to be very monopolistic and uses its advantaged position to control the diamond market. Over the last decades though, the company has been successfully gaining a strong market base for their products, through introducing various products such as the famous "Forevermark", which is natural and untreated. De Beer has various stores to trade their jewelry in various parts of the world such as France, Ukraine, Hong Kong, England, Japan, United States etc. for this reason, De Beer company has earned a reputation as one of the leading companies in diamond production and marketing of diamond products, over the years.

The engagement ring

This is a ring worn by an engaged or married person mainly in the west, traditionally worn by women on the left hand's ring finger, and contains diamonds and other precious gemstones, given to her by her prospective husband. These rings originated from the Romans around the 13^th century, but the first recorded use of the ring was used in 1477 by Archduke Maximilian of Vienna, Austria, when he proposed to Mary of Burgundy. Various forms of proposal came in between the development of the engagement ring such as the use of a thimble in the 19^th century, but towards the end of the century, engagement rings became the standardized form of engagement, and this is the form used to date, especially among spiritual affiliates.

The engagement rings commonly used for proposal are diamond-made, and provide a ready and diverse market for diamond products, with over 80% of American women being offered diamond rings for betrothal. Their prices vary, depending with the gemstone's carat and clarity. In some societies, engagement rings are considered to be conditional gifts, whereby the person given is expected to return the ring if by any chance the engagement is broken. However, the legal law enforcers also look at the conditions under which the ring was given. For example, if the ring was offered during an engagement party, then it's likely that it will be returned in the event of a break up. In conclusion, engagement rings have been found to be ready market for diamond especially in the United States, with over 80% of the rings with ladies bearing the precious gemstone.