The Dark Core of a Diamond

The odds were excellent that the diamond in the engagement ring I gave my fiancée had passed through the De Beers chain. At the time I bought it in 2000, the cartel controlled up to 75% of the world's rough diamonds. The most likely point of origin—statistically speaking—was the mine at Orapa in Botswana. But the symbol of my love also could have come from Russian Siberia or the Premier Mine in South Africa or from the war spoils of Angola. There was no way to trace its history, except to say De Beers' office in London was the probable point...