Summary of A Cold Blooded Love Affair: Diamond
...e. That is why many people were able to challenge them. The chapter starts off with Chris Jennings trying to sell his plan of finding diamonds to Falconbridge which is owned by Superior Oil. His plan was using a method of probes in the Kalahari desert to find these diamond bearing pipes. He had one problem; he needed some kimberlite from existing pipes in the Kalahari desert to be able to identify the indicators of that region. The only diamond bearing mines that were known to exist belonged to DeBeers. He had to sneak into one of their mining camps and steal a kimberlite sample and have it analyzed in order to have the ability to identify the indicators of that specific region. He managed to steal a sample and had it analyzed. He commenced the aircraft flights over the Kalahari Desert. Eventually the program was dropped. Also in this chapter was a story about some miners being in the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains were thought to have an abundant source of gemstones possibly including diamonds. A wife of one of the guys found a diamond indicating stone and his team flocked to try to find diamonds. These amateur miners found themselves traveling up a trail of indicators that eventually led them into Canada near Yellowknife. They ended up here because of this long search up the mountains. They figured out that a glacier must have receded and exposed pipes that bore gemstones. They eventually worked themselves up into the upper parts of Canada. Dia Met was a company that Fipke worked with, Fipke was one of the miners in the Rocky Mountains, they decided to stake claims in Canada because they found mines containing thousands of garnets which can be an indicator for diamonds. In the next chapter, we learn about the discoveries which took place in the early 90’s. They were still found in the upper parts of Canada where it is cold for most of the year. Dia Met, BHP, and Aber were some of the mining companies that had struck it big with finding these mines containing diamond indicators. The story focuses on Aber and their relentless fight to find diamond bearing mines to compete in the market. Aber was eventually led by Eira Thomas, the daughter of the owner of Aber, who was a very inexperienced at searching for these mines. She had graduated from college but didn’t really have enough experience to be competing in the arctic for diamond with huge companies like DeBeers. They eventually found themselves drilling into lakes where they thought the best source of diamonds would be. There were many other companies beginning to stake territory because of what the other major mining companies had found in this area around Yellowknife. You can stake a claim in Canada as long as you register it with the local mining agency. They have to have it recorded in order for it to be legal. Aber did just that and had many things going for them. They were drilling and finding many diamond indicators. They drilled a first hole but went straight into granite because they had missed their target. During this time, the temperature was raising as it was closing in on summer and the lake they were drilling in was beginning to turn to mush. Eira had a decision to make and she decided to make the decision to drill a different hole in these dangerous conditions. She succeeded and drilled a large chunk of kimberlite which she brought back to the campsite and analyzed. She discovered a two carat rough diamond. This was a great discovery because the best indicator for diamond mines is to find diamonds in them. The next chapter starts off talking about Tokyo Sexwale. He is one of the first black men to have the chance to be in diamonds. The chapter talks of how he became a part owner in one of the smaller diamond companies in South Africa. It talks about him working with Trans Hex which is the second largest producer in South Africa. It also has a section on SouthernEra and their quest for diamonds. They were successful but then lost because DeBeers bought out the mine that they were working with. The next section in the chapter is an interesting one. It talks about where DeBeers sends there rough diamonds. They have two places in London where they send them, 2 Charterhouse Street and 17 Charterhouse Street. This is where they do their sorting and other things. This section and the next few sections focus on DeBeers and their two buildings where they do the sorting and pricing of all of their diamonds. Most or all of their diamonds come through these two buildings. They sort them into categories by weight, color, and clarity. They can have thousands of categories to separate them into. These sections also mention the ability of the workers who sort the diamonds to steal the diamonds. They talk about thieves and their abilities to steal a higher clarity diamond and replace it with a lower clarity diamond of the same carat weight. Then these sections go on to discuss how DeBeers puts out the rough diamonds. The diamond market works around five week cycles. DeBeers only sells lots of diamonds every five weeks. For the first week, they sort and do other stuff. The next week they do something different until finally they can be sold. The funny thing about them selling is the buyer never gets see at what they get until they basically purchase the box of diamonds. Each lot of diamonds usually sells for ten million dollars. DeBeers only invites the people or companies to come and see the rough, a person can’t walk in and buy something without an invitation from the almighty DeBeers. The next chapter goes on to talk about DeBeers and their marketing strategies. It talks about the person who coined the phrase “diamonds are forever”, and many other famous phrases used by DeBeers. DeBeers also has been said to have the best marketing abilities. They spend in the ballpark of two hundred million dollars a year on advertising. One of the most important ways to market diamonds was through Hollywood. In movies, diamonds are used to signify wealth and power. Many Americans watch these movies and have to have a diamond because the actress had a diamond. It also goes on to talk about Harry Winston and the Hope Diamond. The Hope Diamond is the most famous blue diamond in the world. It weighs around forty five carats and is set in a pendant casting that contains many other white diamonds. It talks about the Hope Diamonds vivid past. The chapter gives many details on other famous diamonds that were passed down from queen and king to other royalties to many rich people. The Hope Diamond is now at the Smithsonian Institute. It is one of the most visited attractions at the Smithsonian. In fact, it is the most visited thing in the Smithsonian. The next chapter is called Bad Goods and that sums it up right there. The whole chapter talks about how bad goods enter the market. They talk about thieves having the ability to steal from mines and putting that product into the open market. Some of the mines include the miners hostels which are houses. The miners basically live inside the mine. The miners are able to take and steal what they can with the risk of getting caught but a lot of them do not get caught. They even use x-ray technology to scan wor...