See http://www.mining.com/2012/01/06/rio-tinto-makes-diamond-foray-in-india/.

Recently,  Australian Broadcasting Company sent a reporter to the prospective site, to investigate the “mood” of local people about the project and to hear the company defend its current and future operations. But, at the last moment, Rio Tinto refused to be officially interviewed on camera.

ABC also obtained a copy of a writ petition to India’s High Court, accusing the UK mega-miner of having already violated environmental regulations in its lease area. While some villagers in the area approved the company’s proposals, others were firmly opposed, and pledged to halt the project.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11346

But the visits to London will soon come to an end. A year from now, the diamond houses will have to send their men to Botswana – the African country that in the coming years may call the shots in the business.

See http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-13/news/30511747_1_roughs-diamond-auctions-diamond-trading.

(De Beers is controlled by Anglo American plc.)

This comes after the industry regulator, the Kimberley Process, gave Zimbabwe the green light to resume diamond exports from Marange.

See http://www.mining.com/2011/11/13/de-beers-wont-touch-zimbabwe-diamonds/.

De Beers is controlled by London-listed Anglo American.

See http://www.botswanaguardian.co.bw/newsdetails.php?nid=2937&cat=BG%20News.

The community is angered that the company has reneged on its promise to adequately rehabilitate its mined-out area, and plans to sell the lease to a much smaller diamond outfit, Trans Hex.

Recalling that De Beers has exploited his peoples’ territory for around 80 years, community leader Dawid Markus declared: “We are still living in dire poverty. De Beers says ‘a diamond is for ever’. The reality here is that our suffering is for ever”.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11263.

Survival believes the Bushmen were evicted from their land due to its rich diamond reserves. De Beers, one of the world’s largest diamond companies held the mining concession at Gope, a Bushman community for 25 years.  However following the negative publicity from Survival’s campaign it sold its diamond deposit at Gope to Gem Diamonds in 2007. Gem Diamonds is now developing its mine within the Kalahari Reserve, whilst funding projects to re-instate and drill new boreholes.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7662.

Shortly after Shehla’s death, several human rights’ and other organisations backed a statement which strongly implied Rio Tinto might have been behind the assassination. Among Ms Massod’s key strategic “tools” was the filing of Right to Information (RTI) requests, seeking to elicit evidence of illegal activity or regulatory violations. Ms Massod had filed an RTI against Rio Tinto and alleged that its exploration activities were already polluting a major river.

The outrage triggered by Shehla’s murder forced the state government to ask India’s Central Bureau of Information (CBI) to investigate who might have been responsible.

Meanwhile, on 25 August, the head of Rio Tinto India issued a statement denying any part in the killing, asserting that his company conducted its operations by “the highest ethical standards”.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11159.

See http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2011/07/24/de-beers-under-fire-over-dumps-and-deaths.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6925 utm_source=Survival+International&utm_campaign=a032628180-enews_special_Bushmen_success_1_27_2011&utm_medium=email.

London-listed Gem Diamonds announced that its application to open a huge diamond mine near the Bushman community of Gope in the reserve has been approved. The company claims to have secured the consent of the Bushmen on whose lands the mine will be located.

Survival, however, has repeatedly told Gem Diamonds that the Bushmen are entitled to independent advice on what the likely impact of the mine will be. No such advice has been given, and many Bushmen whose lands will be affected still live outside the reserve in resettlement camps after their 2002 eviction, as the government refuses to allow them to hunt or even access water in the reserve. Survival and the Bushmen have always maintained that the Bushmen were evicted to make way for diamond mining. The government long denied this, claiming the diamond deposit at Gope was ‘sub-economic’.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6859.

UK-based Anglo American is the biggest shareholder in De Beers (at 45%), with the Oppenheimer family holding 40% and the goverment of Botswana 15%.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10616.

Survival International believes that the government’s attitude to the Bushmen is affected by the presence of diamonds in the traditional territory. Diamond companies active in Botswana include De Beers (45% owned by London-based Anglo American) and London-based Gem Diamonds.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6766.

Nine years after the end of Sierra Leone’s notoriously grisly civil war, the small West African nation still known for its “blood diamonds” has attracted a deep-pocketed and ambitious investor. The project in question promises huge economic gains but could threaten the country’s still-fragile peace. The sector? The same one that caused so much trouble back in the 1990s: Mining.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10595.

Celebrated jeweller, Pippa Small, said, ‘As jewellers we have for years made sure that we do not use blood diamonds.  Now we also need to boycott Botswana diamonds until the Bushmen are allowed to live and hunt freely on their land’.

Both De Beers (controlled by Anglo American) and Gem Diamonds are involved in Botswana.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6587.