It has been called a women’s best friend and is, in reality, the world’s hardest material, a diamond is that form of carbon that will very likely be never used as a fossil fuel.
With over $50-70 billion dollar industry running on this particularly expensive gem, more than half of the world’s production of diamond is used in industries for cutting and machining plastics as well as metals and it is quite a small quantity that actually manages to reach the ladies’ jewelry box.
With $3 billion trading going on every year, Botswana is recognized as the highest diamond producing country in the world.
Mined from Botswana, traded in London, cut in India and sold mostly in New York, diamonds have had a very interesting journey since lava from volcanoes pushed them out onto the surface of the earth for earthlings to covet it greedily.