Making Diamonds Ethical

N O R T H W E S T   T E R R I T O R I E S, Canada, Dec. 21 -- In the Arctic, a place where a weakened sun makes the snow crystalline and the air crisp, there is an idea to restore luster to the diamond trade.

Companies are blasting $1 million worth of diamonds a day from this new frontier. And these diamonds are guaranteed to be as ethically pure as the quality of the stone.

“It [the diamond] doesn’t come from some war-torn country or some country that has poor labor practices,” says Northwest Territories Premier Stephen Kakfwi.

The Proposed Solution

For years, civil wars in African countries like Sierra Leone and Angola have been funded in part by the diamond trade. The United Nations has been struggling to find a way to inhibit the sale of what have come to be known as “blood diamonds,” “conflict diamonds,” or “dirty diamonds.” This week, a U.N. panel recommended that the diamond industry implement a certification system which would distinguish the diamonds mined by legitimate producers from the rest. Their hope is that the system will encourage a boycott of the blood diamonds. The model for the system exists in only one place: the Canadian Arctic, the fastest-growing diamond-producing region in the world.

“They have established a system — a technological system and a paper-based system — that can actually mark the diamonds and follow through every single rough diamond all the way through,” says Alex Yearsley of Global Witness, an organization that has done extensive research on conflict diamonds.

Here’s how it works: a laser etches a tiny registration number into the diamond that identifies when and where it was mined. And then, just to make sure, a polar bear is carved that is so small it can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

But it helps retailers such as Peter Germano certify to his customers in New York City that these diamonds are clear of conflict.

“I thought there might be a market for it. And so far, there’s a small one,” Germano says.