WHERE THESE GEMS ARE FOUND

Historically, the epicentre of diamond mining activity was in Africa, but more recently diamonds have been found in many other parts of the world. Africa still plays a leading role, with countries such as Botswana, Angola, South Africa, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all producing more than a million carats of diamonds each year. However, the combined output of those five countries – around 30 million carats – is exceeded by two non-african countries, Russia and Canada, which produce 41 million carats between them. And many other countries produce smaller quantities of gem-quality diamonds, including Australia, Brazil and Guyana.