WhatsApp
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) offered artisanally mined rough from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the first time through a new program called OrigemA.
The project, established in 2022, is a joint initiative by Belgium and the DRC and helps small-scale Congolese miners bring 100% traceable, artisanal diamonds to the international market for sale, the AWDC said last week. Along with giving artisanal miners access to markets they were previously unable to reach on their own, OrigemA guarantees them fair prices for their goods. Approximately 70% of global artisanal-diamond production originates from the DRC, AWDC noted.
The first sale comprised 103.77 carats of rough from the Kamana Ndeke mine in the Kasai region of the DRC. The goods, which the AWDC estimated to be worth $6,000, were sold through Bonas.
“Through OrigemA we primarily wanted to address the challenges faced by artisanal miners in the DRC,” said AWDC CEO Karen Rentmeesters. “Their diamonds generally do not have access to international markets, which means that many cooperatives do not receive the fair prices they deserve for their production.”
In addition to building a fair-market path for the rough, OrigemA has also provided training for 450 miners in sustainable and safe mining practices, conflict management and how to run a cooperative as a small business.
The project is similar to GemFair, which De Beers initiated in 2018 to bring fully traceable, artisanally mined rough from Sierra Leone to the international market.
Image: Rough diamonds being sorted as part of the OrigemA project. (Antwerp World Diamond Centre)
