Australian Diamonds
If you’re looking to buy a diamond and thought of buying something locally produced in Australia, what are your options? Unfortunately, your option are limited. According to Wiki, there are only three diamond mines in Australia and only one has been branded, Arygle.
Argyle diamonds
You’ve probably heard of the Argyle diamond mine which most associate with pink diamonds. Here are some statistics I found about what kind of loose stones come out of the Kimberley region:
- In 2007, it was the 8th largest producer of rough diamond in carat weight volume
- only 5% of the rough is gem quality (average around the world is 20%)
- 2% are white diamonds
- 1% are pink diamonds
- 80% are brown (yuck!)
Personally, I think pink diamonds are overpriced and overrated. So are the white diamonds worth it? I would say not. Their mine generally produces low quality rough and according to those statistics, they only mine twice as much white as pink diamonds which are stupidly expensive. I’m not sure you’re going to get much value out of Kimberley diamonds compared to other options open to a diamond buyer.
CanadaMark diamonds
So what’s “plan B”? Well, where I used to work we stocked CanadaMark diamonds. I know what you’re thinking, this post is about Australian diamonds, what do Canadian Diamonds have to do with it? Well, CanadaMark diamonds are mined out of the BHP Biliton owned EKATI Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
And in case you didn’t know, BHP is referred to as The Big Australian. So my logic is that you’re indirectly buying Australian, that makes sense right? Just nod and smile..
So what makes EKATI better than Argyle? In contrast, 80% of production is gem quality and I’ve personally seen at least a hundred of these stones and the average cut and symmetry is impressive. There are many branded stones out there, but this one seems to be the only one worth buying with an Australian link.