Canada and by the Network Movement for Justice and Development indicates official diamond exports from Sierra Leone for 2005 were US$142 million, an encouraging 12% increase over 2004’s US$126.7 million. This follows a pattern set since the end of the war fought between 1991 and 2002: from almost nothing in 2001, diamond exports have risen steadily, and before long may reach as much as US$200 million.

Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), based in Ontario, works with organizations in Africa, Canada and internationally to build sustainable human development in Africa. PAC has undertaken research and policy dialogue on the question of “conflict diamonds” since 1998 and has been an active member of the Kimberley Process since negotiations began in 2000. Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) is a Sierra Leonean civil society organization that advocates for legal, accountable and responsible mining that benefits especially the miners, local communities, and the country. NMJD has been active in the Kimberley Process since its inception.

The diamond industry in Sierra Leone, however, remains extraordinarily difficult to manage and control. Government officials may be right to claim that they have made progress in expanding the legal diamond mining and export sector. But smuggling continues, despite the creation of the global Kimberley Process rough diamond certification system. And the pre-export trade in diamonds – that is, marketing within Sierra Leone – is notoriously confusing and opaque, while profit margins on the exchange between the dealers and miners are uniformly huge.

The review shows that virtually all of Sierra Leone’s 120,000-plus artisanal diamond miners earn less than a dollar a day, putting them squarely in the category of absolute poverty. Working conditions are unhealthy and unsafe, and the mining areas are considered a threat to security, both local and national. Ensuring that economic growth and macro economic development reach down to the poorest, and that diamonds provide a fair return to those who mine them and their communities remains the biggest challenge for Sierra Leone, and for the diamond industry at large.