Rodriguez has heard about how diamonds fuel distant conflicts, about the miserable conditions of the miners who wrest the stones from the earth, and he worries. The 34-year-old slips on a gold ...

Old mine diamond and platinum ring, diamonds in all ct. 1.50 circa, g 9.67 circa size 9/49. Signed Van Cleef & Arpels, inventory number, French gold and platinum import mark.

Yet tougher anti-trust action by regulators and competition from Alrosa, the old Soviet diamond miner, meant that by 2001 the monopoly had been broken. Today De Beers accounts for only one-third ...

"We will start ore mining from the mines in two-three months, and in the meanwhile diamonds are processed through feeding of old stockpiles," the company told Reuters in an e-mailed statement.