The Kimberly Process reported that  “blood diamonds” makes up 15 to 20 percent of the diamond market in Sierra Leone.

Source:  “Blood diamonds,” Irish Times, August 6, 2010.

In 2010, an estimated 1 percent of the global diamond market is estimated to have been illicitly traded.

Source:  Amelia Hill, “Blood diamonds from Zimbabwe to flood international market, watchdog warns,” Guardian, July 8, 2010.

40 tons of gold worth $1.24 Billion was smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009.

Source:  UNODC, “The Globalization of Crime,” Chapter 11: Regions Under Stress, June 2010.

Illegal miners in Kenya are living in poverty and are selling gems on the black market in order to eat, reports the BBC.  According to the report, the miners are selling stolen gems dug up from mines to black market traders for $2.  The gems then go on to the world markets where they are sold for up to $1,000.

Source:  Kenneth Mungai, “Deadly game of Kenya’s gem trade,” BBC News, August 14, 2009.

In 2008, the Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank told a conference that 10,000 people were entering Zimbabwe each month to traffic in illegal diamonds.

Source:  “Billions Lost Through Diamond Smuggling,” Herald, August 29, 2008.

The ” blood diamond” market, or diamonds smuggled and trafficked for illicit products,  is estimated  to  amount  up to 4 percent of the $7 billion global diamond market, or $280 Million.

Source: Douglas Farah, Blood From Stones (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), pg. 4.

Source: Partnership Africa Canada, “Killing Kimberley? Conflict Diamonds and Paper Tigers”, The Diamonds and Human Security Project, Revised Edition, November 2006,pg.5,(accessed: November 13, 2006).

Source:  Tristan McConnell, “Fighting diamond smuggling in Africa,” Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 2007,(accessed: July 31, 2007).

Officials from Botswana, the world’s biggest producer of high-quality minerals, reported to participants of the Kimberley Process that 99.8 percent of the world’s diamonds are being certified as legitimate.

Source: Moabi Phia, “Watchdog urged to crack down on Cote d’Ivoire,” Mail & Guardian Online, November 6, 2006,(accessed: November 13, 2006).

Although Venezuela is estimated to produce 150,000 carets of diamonds annually, it has officially exported none since 2005.

Source: Partnership Africa Canada, “The Lost World: Diamond Mining and Smuggling in Venezuela,” November 2006, pg. 1,(accessed: October 9, 2007).