Fully traceable artisanal diamonds from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been sold on the international market for the first time, marking a milestone for responsible sourcing and improved market access for small-scale miners, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).<\/p>\n
The 103.77-carat parcel of rough diamonds from the Kasai region was offered in Antwerp through a public tender organised by Bonas-Couzyn under OrigemA, a Belgian-Congolese project launched in 2022 by AWDC with the DRC Ministry of Mines, NGO Resolve and technology partner Everledger, with support from the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
Six mining cooperatives across Kasai and Kasai-Central provinces are part of the initiative, which supports the livelihoods of around 3 million people. The first parcel, valued at about US$6,000, originated from the Kamana Ndeke mine and was produced by the COMIDIANZ cooperative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough OrigemA, we primarily wanted to address the challenges faced by artisanal miners in the DRC,\u201d said Karen Rentmeesters, CEO of AWDC. \u201cTheir diamonds generally do not have access to international markets, which means that many cooperatives do not receive the fair price they deserve for their production.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot said the country’s Peacebuilding Fund had invested \u20ac200,000 in the project. \u201cThe fact that the first diamonds are being offered for sale in Antwerp today marks an important milestone for the project and for the COMIDIANZ cooperative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The project has trained 450 miners in sustainable and safe mining practices and introduced productivity improvements at participating sites. The DRC accounts for an estimated 70% of global artisanal diamond production, making initiatives such as OrigemA important for communities that rely on the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fully traceable artisanal diamonds from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been sold on the international market for the first time, marking a milestone for responsible sourcing and improved market access for small-scale miners, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). The 103.77-carat parcel of rough diamonds from the Kasai region was offered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-36994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n