Manufacturing & Trading
 
After being mined, the rough diamonds are shipped to sorting facilities. Since 2003, following the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, stones leaving a producing country have to be examined, registered, certified and sealed by a recognised authority. This system, which was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, is designed to ensure that diamonds traded to finance the activities of militant groups cannot enter the legitimate pipeline.
 
At sorting facilities in London, Antwerp, Gaborone, Kimberley and Moscow, rough diamonds are divided into hundreds of qualities. Typically this process is carried out by the diamond mining companies, using both manual and mechanised methods. Industrial quality diamonds, which are small, lower-quality stones, are identified. Gem-quality diamonds are classified into thousands of categories based on size, shape, quality and color.
 
The rough diamonds are then sold to rough diamond traders and manufacturers. The larger percentage is bought by clients of the major rough producing corporations, known as sightholders. The largest rough dealing centre is Antwerp, which handles well in excess of 50 percent of the merchandise flowing into the pipeline. Antwerp is also home to the world’s only rough diamond exchange, called the Antwerpsche Diamantkring.
 
The diamonds are then cut and polished. Most cutting and polishing takes place in India, China, Southern Africa, Belgium, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Armenia and the United States. The stone is then classified again, this time by its cut, color, clarity and carat weight, also known as the "Four Cs." A large number of polished diamonds are certified by grading laboratories to accurately ascertain their grades.
 
The polished diamonds are then sold by traders, the majority of whom are members of one of the 28 World Federation of Diamond Bourses-affiliated diamond exchanges around the world. The largest diamond trading centres are located in Antwerp, Tel Aviv and New York.
 
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