The people of Botswana don't even rate a mention in the article, they're likely not going to see a single dime of the proceeds which will be in the many tens of millions of US$.
Also, they are one of the largest producers of rough diamonds in the world, so a single stone may be a big deal for the company extracting it, but it means hardly anything to the country.
Africa has some insane level of corruption and poverty, but there are some exceptions (namely, Botswana and Mauritius).
Thank you for that information, that totally changed my view on the situation in Botswana. Reading up on Africa from time to time and I completely missed this.
Because it is value extracted, not value added, and because the receivers of the majority of that value are in a position to extract that value by virtue of having historically exploited Botswana. So the larger part of the value will be removed from the country rather than that it will become part of the local economy it will become part of our economy.
>Last week, Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau paid 48.6 million Swiss francs ($48.4 million) at Sotheby’s in Geneva for a 12.03-carat blue diamond, the most spent on a jewel at auction. A day earlier, he paid 28.7 million francs for a 16.08-carat pink diamond. Both purchases were for his 7 year-old daughter, his office said.
Seems like the hip thing for a multi-billionaire to do would be to buy the whole stone and leave it uncut, just so they could have the largest diamond in the world.
Since the main difference between coal and diamonds is some expensive processing (currently it's usually done by natural processes but that detail can be changed)
So diamonds might have a fair price of, to be generous, 1000 * times the cost of coal. So diamonds cost the ballpark of $50 per kilogram.
Obviously they don't right now, but it gets you thinking about the intrinsic value of diamond and how that price might move in the future.
Since the main difference between sand and Intel processors is some expensive processing, processors might have a fair price of, to be generous, 1000 times the cost of sand. So processors cost the ballpark of $10 per kilogram.
Obviously they don't right now, but it gets you thinking about the intrinsic value of processors and how that price might move in the future.
It won't because the main value of dug diamonds is rarity, which makes them perfect goods to display your wealth and status. Many of these goods are stored in vaults (some in freeports, areas of an airport carved out for fiscally optimized storage), and the only sign of a change of ownership is an extra name on a registry... but the whole point is to leave your mark on that registry.
So, the demand for these diamonds is not driven by their diamond-ness, just as the James Bond set Astons fetch higher value at auction than the same model sold at retail.
You can already see a version of this by heading to any jewelry shop and comparing lab diamond prices to the stuff sold by Tiffany's etc. Or just asking any young, not yet married lady in the street if she'd be OK with a synthetic.
So diamonds cost the ballpark of $50 per kilogram.
Close. Current prices for industrial diamonds seem to be more like $100-400 pr. kilogram depending on exactly what you want. Of course those diamonds aren't exactly the type you put into jewelry.
No idea. I just googled a bit and pulled some numbers from a few different bulk suppliers I found (all in China). Perhaps competition from china has had a dramatic effect on prices?
Or they're bullshit suppliers advertising ridiculous prices and wares, like the company advertising kilograms of stuff only made on milligram-scales since it was discovered (don't remember where I saw that, probably the comments of a "things I won't work with" entry)
Same as it is for coal - how long it takes to burn it. Which is a lot quicker.
On the other hand, flags, religious symbols, and monuments don't have a ton of intrinsic value either, but humans are funny that way, with their social contrivances.
Industrial diamond use is not limited to burning (in fact burning isn't really an industrial use of diamond as far as I know, there's plenty of cheap ways to heat stuff). Diamonds (mostly synthetic) are used for cutting, piercing (drill bits), abrading[0], anvils in very high-pressure context and electronics heat sinks.
Most of the mined diamond production and the vast, vast majority of synthetic diamonds are not gemstone-grade and are used industrially.
[0] for all three mostly as diamond coating on tools, though there are monocrystalline diamond edges and blades, mostly for surgical use and microtomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_knife
Unlike coal or religious symbols, diamonds aren't just useful for fuel. The properties of diamond (e.g. transparent, very hard) make it a useful material. More so if the price comes down.
Interesting. Caloric value as the way to compare value of things rather than fiat money. That's how it used to work right? Maybe we fall back to that after society falls?