Welcome to Koidu - the diamond capital of Sierra Leone!
Diamond shops are spread all over town and impossible to miss. Like gold-rush America, Sierra Leone’s diamond-mining capital can feel just as madly exciting, and just as desolate. Known as the Wild East, it has lured in many with the promise of riches, and yet the techniques employed are not much changed in 70 years.
The largest mine, “The Tiffany Mine”, is owned by Koidu Limited and visible from the Main Street.
The largest diamond was discovered in 1972 at 968,9-ct. It was called “Star of Sierra Leone”. The famous jeweller Harry Winston bought it for 2,5 million $. The second largest was found in 2017, at 709-ct, and was called “The Peace Diamond”.
The diamond mines are all located on the country side of Koidu, you need to know where they are to find them.
John the owner of this plot, is from Sierra Leone but lives in Manchester half of the year. He inherited the plot from his parents, which is common.
Diamond soil.
The digging normally starts in the end of November or beginning of December. The season ends in June/July because of heavy rain, also known as rainy season, which often leads to flooding.
Not everyone are suited for a life in a diamond mine.
A normal day starts between 7-8AM and ends around 5PM, with overtime until 7. It is not the long days but the hard labour in the sun, that will make or break you.
Even the hardest workers need a break.
A new directive from the President made things a bit more difficult in the small local mines. Before they had diggers, now everything is done by hand.
(In the fall of 2020 they regained access to digging machines)
The men normally earn a few dollars a day, but when bigger stones arrive they get a notable increase.
One shovel at a time.
They are rinsing the soil with water from the river.
After rinsing it’s time for the next step in the process.
The process is dependant on good teamwork for efficiency.
John is present for the last stage and looks carefully at the men while they search through today’s digg.
The neighbouring plot found a 144-ct diamond in 2017. It was sold for about 3 mill $.
Maybe today is their lucky day.
In this final step the men need to stay alert, because they can’t afford to lose any diamonds.
The largest diamond discovered in this plot was 46.35-ct and it was sold for 300,000$ in 2014. This allowed John and team to continue the search for even bigger stones that can provide the whole village for decades to come.
You have to look closely…
The catch of the day! Not a big one, but every piece counts.
Not the catch they were hoping for, but you soon learn to shake off the disappointment in this buisness.
Time to pack up and go home.
The Crew. They are all good friends and neighbours, working together make the hard work more bearable. There is a lot of smoking, joking and laughing.
The mining village.
During the day, the women are alone in the village.
It is a small village where everyone knows each other.
Fresh braids in the making.
The entire village feels like one extended family.
Cooking dinner with local vegetables and meat.
Playing cards is a popular way to pass time.
The village Chief and former miner Mr Dawda.
This is only one of many mining villages in this area, living their life in the hope of that one lucky day, maybe tomorrow, they will discover a 500-ct stone.
If you are interested in investing in the diamond industry you can contact John at ojsorie@gmail.com
A blood diamond, also called conflict diamond, as defined by the UN, is a diamond that is mined in areas controlled by forces opposed to the legitimate, internationally recognized government of a country and that is sold to fund military action against that government.
This is not the situation in Sierra Leone today. The civil war ended in 2002 and the different groups are now living together in peace.
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