This is good and bad news.

De Beers from South Africa has been banned from mining in the US since 1940. They also maintain a very tight control over the diamond supply into the market regulating the buy and sell prices.
This means they buy almost all the diamonds coming out of the mines of other big players and if you are a big diamond mining company it does not pay to upset the mighty De Beers.

Some have tried to buck the established trend but the carpet was pulled from under their feet somehow by someone. Even the Russians fell in with the rules.

So for anyone holding a possible diamond claim in the US this is bad news as the big companies will not go against the unspoken rules. Waiting for such a company to come and mine your claims is a very remote possibility.

DD

The Canadians seem to have held their own. In fact, I think the mighty DB only has control over 40% of the world diamond trade at this point. The Clean Diamond Trading Act is a positive step in the USA's direction...in my opinion.

For those that have diamond bearing claims, I agree with DD, don't wait for a major player. Put together your own plan for development and proceed at your own pace. Keep in mind that the major mines are getting to the end of their life span so new discoveries are becoming even more important.

I trend more to the good news side of things in this case.

ASTROBLEME

Astro,
According to my research they control the whole diamond market through the buyers, any buyer who does not conform to their wishes will not get his next years quota of diamonds to buy from their sales division basically putting the dealer out of business.

Make no mistake they are very powerful, to underestimate them is a big mistake.
The Mine that sells on the side and not to them is in deep trouble, just as they get ready to sell and make a profit they dump a lot of stones on the market crashing the price so the rouge mine cannot sell or do sell but not make a profit. This has happened before and will continue to happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-cartel.htm


http://www.123helpme.com/de-beers-and-us-a...w.asp?id=164502

Some more illegal de beers activities exposed here

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111210216.html

Quote" When Angola gained a freely elected socialist government, the CIA funded a rebellion led by local group UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) ,2 But after oil was discovered there, President Clinton decided that he could do business with its government and in 1993 ended CIA support for UNITA. The rebels then seized Angolan diamond mines and financed the continuation of this very bloody war to the tune of $3.7 billion by selling diamonds. As Global Witness reported in 1998 in A Rough Trade, 'De Beers' annual reports during the 1990s clearly state the company's heavy involvement in buying Angolan rough diamonds, at the height of resumed fighting and a time when UNITA controlled the majority of Angola's diamond production." End Quote
Website here http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/D...s_In_Rough.html

Research pages: http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GE...15diamonds.html

http://www.diamondsourceva.com/education/d...ondindustry.asp

http://www.lieffcabraser.com/antitrust-int...-beers-diamonds

Sad news from the Journalists investigation the company but where there is a smoke there usually is a fire of some kind.

So what I am getting from all this De Beers cannot operate in the US and will not allow any other big company to do so also that money is power.
Just my 2p's worth Inflation excluded
DD