Diamonds from Guinea documentary of Patrick Voillot

several centuries before our era travelers told a valley deep and inaccessible guarded by snakes and birds of prey which contained fabulous diamonds a powerful Lord of that time sent his servant in search of the precious stones to escape the dangers they threw pieces of meat into the valley Raptors rushed to retrieve the food in which diamonds were encrusted the men needed only to plunder the nests and bring their bounty to their sovereign thus spread over the ages the legend of the valley of diamonds today no one really knows where it's located maybe in the eastern region of Guinea been Ankara whose wealth and diamonds and hostility of nature recalls the tale [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is an exceptional d-flawless heart shape here is an exceptional piece a diamond necklace perfectly pure heart and pear-shaped it's more than 128 carats and it's mounted on platinum beautiful it's very flexible easy to wear the African continent is a major producer of diamonds on its western coast Conakry Guinea produces exceptional gems in 1955 secret Ohio became mayor of conakry then president of this country that now houses 7 million inhabitants he remained in power for 27 years guineans have forgotten his image as a tyrant because he was able to impose the name of the country worldwide there are three dominant ethnic groups the Fulani the malenque and the sousou's they are very involved in diamond mining located mainly in their stronghold in upper Guinea on the boundary of the Guinea forest the diamond reserve is estimated at 25 million carats large quantities of gold iron aluminum and uranium are also part of the natural resources of this country the production of diamonds in Guinea is mainly artisanal despite some industrial companies that have in 2001 produced 25 thousand carats artisans have unearthed three hundred and thirty eight thousand or 14 times more feta is a woman master master on her concession which means she is the owner it is she who will have first choice of the diamonds that the workers find here the griot sorts of tuba doors sing the boss's praises in exchange for some bills [Applause] to reach the diamond richland covered by alluvia miners dig dozens of meters deep [Music] one of the largest diamond reserves in the world for jewelry is in this extremely kolos daf region near a town called Bannon cora in 1932 the first diamond was officially discovered by an Irish prospector Dermody in the headwaters of the mokona river in the forest region of Guinea [Music] what do we find here we find diamonds the XX diamond blue eyes is it good quality here good quality good quality you often find it in your parcel yes often often we chose the right guard key master what is a master the master is someone who buys diamonds that come out of their monkey okay the master he buys the diamonds yes I buy the diamonds I buy them from the workers yes and after you sell them to whom we sell them to a collector that's it then the collector what does he do with the diamond afterwards he goes to the trading post the search is artisanal all is done with the arms a shovel a sieve and their feet in water all day this stone is under heavy military surveillance it is very close to Liberia and Sierra Leone two countries of great political unrest guerrilla troops do not hesitate to cross the borders into Guinea in the 1950s underground operators from Sierra Leone invaded the area many stayed others followed later fleeing civil war in their country Fatima is happy to find a stone in the very first cleaning of the day people are very superstitious here this discovery even if the diamond is not very big is going to bring her luck on her concession it's like a lottery you can find lots of stones and become very rich or lose all your money in an unnecessary work in a sterile mine the criteria for quality of a diamond like purity and color are precisely determined the way it is also the unit of measurement is 0.2 grams per carat the name comes from the carob seed once used in the east whose weight was always constant the Belen Carrera is populated by carancas an ethnic subgroup of the Milenka their Islamic fundamentalist the city has hundreds of mosques hotels considered places of debauchery do not exist and public schools are located outside the city there is no running water no electricity no telephones and this in the place that everyday encounters the most precious and expensive material on earth the military is omnipresent on the mines and throughout the region they are quick to say they're in a war zone diamond attracts the envy of all the nearest neighbors several times a week phatu buys the stones directly on the mine her right-hand man has recovered every stone found in the concession workers gather to discuss the price with phatu she has the indisputable priority of purchase any breach of this right would be severely punished as theft in this region if she does not buy the stone which is extremely rare the miner may sell elsewhere the workers like their employers know the approximate price of stones but they have no Gemological training which sometimes gives rise to heated discussions thank 5-carat 75a yeah visa coach Fe you saw what I saw there's a little dive and a cut Hey okay good me do two million three million is too much you know it's not cut there's a small dive in the corner [Music] two million five hundred no no that's too much two million three hundred okay okay let's paid for cargo we second a recurrent how much is the two carats 48 quick quick 1 million four hundred million four hundred too much seven hundred thousand seven hundred thousand is small no it's not small we SAP 800,000 No 900 850 okay transactions here are made in Guinean francs a euro is equivalent to slightly less than 2000 Guinean francs its usual eat all the money again we've worked hard you you worked hard but all the money are going to eat it tomorrow a lot of washing we will win a lot please go often the money recovered by miners during the sale of a stone only allows them to repay the debts they have contracted with various businesses in Benin Caro the boss supports some of the miners needs including food weekly ration of rice is distributed to workers once a week it is often their only means of subsistence if an important stone is found the allocation is divided equally between the miner and the boss when the stone is sold the boss will deduct the full cost incurred for the employee I am the secretary-general of the diamond trade association of gimme the diamond trend Association aims to bring together all persons interested in the diamond the state has a major role it is to provide plots to those who want to work for those who want to invest in artisanal mining Viki varavayi I see people saying they feel the exports a few artisanal the region is extremely rich in diamonds there is an almost incalculable amount because the amount of diamonds amounts to millions and millions of carrots last year we sold 78,000 carats in the whole area which takes some three hundred thousand miners in 1999 we found a 747 carat stone in them by atom buyer in 1995 a private diamond operator was lying in his hammock he was out there dreaming his children came crying dad dad someone's found something someone's coming from farm then he told his children get the hell out and the children said but it's military of come they said oh they must have come to arrest me he didn't know it but they were coming because of a 285 carat stone that had been found on his plot and when they came to give it to him it's me who took the stone on behalf of the Association and I brought it back to the director that was in 1995 yes you remain very Larry met director Thomas oil kala and so my reticula prediction the different government gain the richest concessions are in the Bombo River area which is a tributary of the bowel River this river has carried alluvial streams rich with diamonds for thousands of years a diamond is composed of pure crystallized carbon this carbon is common throughout the earth but to make a diamond one must bring its atoms extremely close together otherwise you obtain graphite despite strong pressure from 45,000 to 60,000 atmospheres the atoms are recalcitrant they come together only when the pressure is added to high temperatures between 900 and 1300 degrees centigrade these conditions are made only at depths of 150 to 200 kilometers under the Earth's crust at the base of the lithospheric roots when the diamonds crystallized they must rise to the surface of the earth like an elevator a rock called kimberlite is responsible for these presses passengers making their way to the surface they form a dike that explodes in a volcanic eruption then the volcano dies down and erosion begins it will provide alluvial deposits Dimond is very old it was brought to the surface of the earth 100 million to a billion years ago depending on the region kimberlite which has remained frozen in the conduit of the volcano called the pipe is the primary deposit of diamonds to obtain only a few carats several thousand tons must be moved highly concentrated areas of alluvial diamonds are more easily exploitable in an artisanal manner the alluvial soil rich in gems is transported to a wash area the earth is put into an extremely thin mesh sieve and then washed the gravel rolled by the rivers and containing diamonds gets stuck in the sieve the miners expert I can immediately remove the large stones which have no value on this operation the owner is represented by an official who monitors the discovery of each stone the rotary movement imposed on the screen concentrates the heavy minerals in the center of the sieve which includes diamonds also included are garnet ilmenite and olivine these heavy minerals are regarded as indicators that the gemstone is nearby [Music] diamonds maybe turned into the boss or his representative who'll keep them in an envelope a folded piece of paper with the name of the finder in order to discuss the price with him later once the washing and water is completed the contents of the sieve are placed on a flat surface to be carefully sorted under the inquisitive eyes of the officer the larger stones are usually released before this step the important refraction of diamonds distinguishes these small stones from the duller gravel a final sifting of the gravel by hand indicates the end of this meticulous search also used on the mines our mechanical sieves whose principle is the same as the manual screening but which can handle larger masses of ore [Music] when a master has not found a single diamond on his concession for some time the tension rises and he is eager to see the result of the screening this is understandable because in the trade of precious stones the most random factor is always the mining many people have been ruined this way there is a real suspicion between the diamond dealers in this country here we do not lend stones even among the mosses because everyone thinks that in exchange with the stone of lesser value as possible one day a master beat one of his miners thinking he had stolen large stones the miner died but the stones were never found and the overseer was finally hanged finding a diamond restores confidence in the future and the smiles return Andra has bought a franchise he must equip the miners who will go work for him then as tradition dictates he must seek help from a maja boo here the diamond was used before by our ancestors from what we were told it was used for the Kings wives necklaces to make necklaces people did not know the value of the stone which is why as soon as someone found a couple like that they would take them directly to the chief and in exchange were given enough to live off of their older ones in this country Karanka for example if you're very unhappy but if you respect him and give him everything he needs to be rewarded if he really wants to help you he tells you ok I would like to help as you are so respectful and so wise about what you do I cannot pay you the reward that you came to seek it is the diamond and I'm not God but I'll help you find it he brings you he has a small cane that he plans and tells you where to dig you dig and you immediately find the minimum of what you want the minimum to meet your needs and he just says my son what you have found is a reward for everything you did well for me but when he removes this day you cannot find anything it is as though he is the one who has hidden the stones oriental come see say huiqian away [Music] Ondra symbolizing hospitality for happiness [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] despite the Muslim religion animist customs have remained very present in this region some do not hesitate to discuss the practice of human sacrifice to attract diamonds [Music] [Applause] [Music] small collectors buy the stones from miners whose owners did not want them sometimes they can also be illegally found stones smuggled or stolen but in all cases they are small stones how much 80 40 thousand is good no that's too much Barry is a collector he takes few risks he buys diamonds from miners and from masters he never invests money in the mines he will be the intermediary that sells the stones to counters in Conakry 18 million million francs 3 million eight hundred thousand gideon francs tell me your last price seventeen million five seventeen million five four million is good okay five million from me it's five million good five million Guinea in Frank's what is your last price five million now eight million francs no my last price is five million okay is that good no it's not good so we do not agree okay there are not only colorless diamonds in Guinea some stones can be yellow sometimes blue if the color is pure and pleasing to the eye that makes the price of the stone go up a yellow stone the higher mark was she cannot run widow fear not mother how much do you want [Music] it's very yellow 1 million no that's no good 1 million five hundred no three million five hundred two million five hundred million seven hundred okay two million eight hundred thousand okay the value of the stones good price here in Vanacore Oh business is interrupted by the five daily prayers that no one misses it takes two days by car for collectors from van ancora to travel to Conakry curiously the diamond market is relatively well structured in Guinea the diamond merchants must pay a fee to be licensed by the state which pays a supervisory role but from the mind of the counters at each stage a number of stones go through unofficial circuits to avoid taxes some large Kinion diamond merchants have their counters directly in their homes this is for safety reasons because the capital is not safe especially at night [Music] even in an indie bass sound and that's her game and surrended is amended here they bring their stones from Benin kora and they buy because they are already registered are there cards that is a law in Guinea as soon as someone comes that does not have papers they cannot do the job how much is it in all 100,000 it's not the best total of 120 karats $100,000 yes it's too much we can leave it at $45,000 there is that good no that's not good $90,000 no that's too much you must reduce it let it go for 46,000 no that's no good 50,000 okay 50,000 $80,000 that's too much go down how much will you leave it for what's your last price $70,000 that's too much below 60,000 less than 60,000 is how much the diamond market in its prices are known worldwide it is always possible to make a deal but in general the various actors in the market are well aware of the prices give or take a small percentage I told you below 60 No below 70 no but please okay bring it okay to 58,000 no it needs to be 55 give me back my studs no okay 55 okay okay 55 the margins made by traders of breast stones are relatively small but they represent significant sums given the volume traded few Westerners are included in this chain of diamond trading in Guinea some like gabrielle de Toledo who have been in this region a long time are well established my job is diamond dealer I've been a diamond dealer for 42 years and I'm here in Africa it's more adventurous than say to stay in Europe subdues Avanti goodies on the Bastille I've been doing this for years and I'm known because first of all my word is my word and they also call me mr. cash because what I buy is paid in cash this is one of the principles in this profession and purchases I'm serious I give prices that are close to the prices of Antwerp with a very small profit margin that's what makes that I have so many customers so sucky food because you look good here 99% of diamonds are usual diamonds but there are always stones that are unusual and that's what we seek these are unusual stones that make you very happy it's not a matter of money it's a question of fascination I bought a beautiful 57 carat diamond pure diamond blue white for a large sum it had a heart shape it was a fascinating diamond have been formed the girl prefers you know it's a drug to be able to buy diamonds it's a drug I think I'll do it my whole life [Music] buying diamonds is not simple however it is less problematic than for other colored gemstones such as sapphires rubies and emeralds the price is less subjective the quality of the diamond is extremely well defined in terms of impurities that may contain color and size De Beers has ranked diamonds in 14,000 categories called price points the stones are passed through screens to make lots of graded sizes and to quickly estimate the overall price - I know it's risen but you doubly exaggerate you must reduce the price then I cannot make an offer we must reduce the price it's not for me then more than twenty eight is not for me try to make the calculations here is the Machine redo your calculations fake stones are very rarely presented at the counters because the rough diamond is difficult to imitate with other materials synthetic diamonds are extremely expensive to manufacture and finally the trading world is very closed a counterfeiter would immediately be rejected you've not gone down far enough you're in too far I want to show him the 35:35 I say sir I thought you were showing me a price I was amazed a serious price for once I would add another dollar but after that it's over the usual technique for sellers to overvalue their diamonds is to mix in different grades of stones in a large lot that they offer at the highest selling price we'll wait and see how much it is the price of diamonds is the price per carat [Music] there is 214 sixty times thirty six thousand four hundred and thirty-eight six thousand four hundred and fifty US dollars you're amazed at the price I gave you a good price no no it's finished I will not ask anymore otherwise it's not for me the price of industrial diamonds is from forty to a thousand times less expensive than the jewel diamond and sometimes much more four pieces of exceptional quality industrial diamonds are ground into powder and used as an abrasive a few decades ago all colored diamonds were destined to this sad fate it's six thousand four hundred and thirty-eight I'll give you six thousand five hundred and we end the deal six thousand five hundred okay Frank so you want dollars I won't kid Ian Frank's kid Ian Frank's give 13 million Paco 13 million when he has a stone that is a little bit more important Gabriele tests its fluorescence indeed a cut diamond has a lower value if its fluorescence is high because in natural light it gives the impression of having the color higher quality than it actually has Gabriel collect stones for regular shipments to Europe before sending abroad officials from the counters must bring their stones to the office of natural expertise in order to pay an export tax of 3% to the state of Guinea the officials in this office assess the stones according to the International price of diamonds which is updated periodically based on information provided by the International Diamond Council something this office of expertise also organizes regular auctions at which they sell diamonds from some industrial operations like those of the IRA door company [Music] [Music] [Music] once the expertise is completed and the fee paid the stones are transported to the airport by a security van and a sealed packet the responsibilities of the office of expertise stops at the foot of the aircraft the main export destinations are mainly Antwerp but also New York Tel Aviv and London Antwerp is one of the world's major diamond markets it is difficult to precisely date the first cut diamonds in history these are certainly Indian diamonds which reached Europe in the first century AD stone cutters practice the technique of cutting by wearing the stone and obtaining small stones with irregular facets NEMA tell me how much you want for the stone 30,000 30,000 a carrot none whiny people give me a final price yes yes no no payable today it's at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries that in Bruges or aunt were enormous quantities of Indian diamonds came to be cut entire neighborhoods of Antwerp became specialized in diamond cutting it became the largest economic center for diamonds in Europe after a wave of immigration due to the religious intolerance of the Inquisition and the vagaries of history starting in the 19th century Antwerp has taken back its place Guinea encounters have an office in this city I started in the diamond trade as a cleaver that is to say the engineer of the rough diamond crystal to analyse the material cleaving is a profession that's become extinct and then I decided I don't want to become a diamond trader like there are all around the world and I threw out the word that anywhere in the world that there was a colored diamond obviously naturally colored I'd be there within 24 hours with money and if it was good I'd buy it and if not I'd continue so I started collecting and I continued to sell the more important stones and as I found that the one carat stones were relatively shabby I started the rainbow collection a collection with a weight that is more or less one carat for each stone if you want I'll show you what this can't rainbow collection looks like 20 rows of 15 diamonds of color so does 300 colored diamonds with a total weight exceeding three hundred carats I continued to make the collection grow because in my lifetime I see no limits I said it's a three hundred because I found that it was a figure that was fair these diamonds that are already exceptional react to UV light dramatically they look like little lamps lit in color no super MIDI if we could if we'll turn out the light I'll show you what happens the collection begins to flicker in the ultraviolet color what you see now is not at all the color you see in the light of day no no correspond mellow but due to an ocular the pure visual the rainbow collection is unique worldwide and the three diamonds that Eddie elseís owns are the rarest gems on our planet there are only 11 such stones known the identity of each stone is defined by four criteria of quality the foresees carat for weight clarity color and cut to cut a diamond one must first cut the natural crystal with a laser or even with a ground off lathe to a precise weak location on the rock the cleavage then the optimal size is determined by a computer here is a stone that's 14 carats 82 now we'll measure this with the computer to see what weight we can get here it measures the stone for now it takes geometric measurements it does not weigh the diamond does some calculations it's finished the first part of the job it's measured the rough stone and it tells me its weight seven point seven seven carats now we'll ask it to model the diamond what form it should take oval marquees pair or heart-shaped we can ask what we want this model is perfect for a round cut so we'll take it as a basic round shape into the program now we're starting to project the diamond in the rough stone and we can see what is the best use to make of it it indicates the weight here 4.22 carats that's what we would draw from this stone we can turn the stone to see if there's enough space all around the stone this is perfect there's nothing beyond the raw stone we'll know it'll be good we know we'll get a four point twenty two carat diamond the brilliant-cut was probably cut in Italy in the early 17th century in Venice the first step would have been rubbing two diamonds against each other to give the stone its general shape [Music] they proceeded to faceting it on a wheel covered with diamond powder from industrial diamonds that can be cut only by itself as it is the hardest material it is 140 times harder than sapphires or rubies the Greeks called it Adam which means the unconquerable the stone cutter will carve the 57 or 58 brilliant cut facets respecting each angle so that the light is reflected in the stone like in a multitude of mirrors [Music] we protect the already cut parts of the diamond with molten borax because the high temperatures of cutting will dull its facets one must take particular care of a diamond in the vicinity of a weld a brilliant one carat diamond is usually obtained from a 2.5 carat stone London sees 60% of the world's rough diamonds behind the walls of famous De Beers which for a near century has imposed a monopoly on the diamond my name is Leslie called um I am the director of the Centre for information on diamonds at the diamond trading company in London De Beers is the largest mining company in the world and the oldest - De Beers was founded in 1888 by Kimberley at the time when they discovered the first diamond producing areas in South Africa we can say that the creation of De Beers was the beginning of the diamond industry the diamonds that we extract from our mines in South Africa represent 41 to 42 percent of the world's production last year for example we produce the equivalent of 3.2 billion dollars De Beers prospects across the world to find new deposits particularly in Conakry Guinea we've been prospecting in southeastern Guinea since 1995 that is to say we take samples from rivers at intervals of 20 to 25 kilometers in these rivers we look for minerals that indicate the presence of the rock kimberlite in which diamonds are sometimes found these minerals principally comprise garnets the kimberlite mostly contains garnets these red stones and black stones also called ilmenite from the results of thanks to sampling and geophysical studies we've identified a number of positive areas in southeastern Guinea between the towns of my centre and Cara want these stones were formed billions of years ago and are a rarity of course but historically men have always tried to recreate the diamond as you know we make artificial diamonds and factories they make what we call industrial quality diamonds and it seems incredible but the artificial diamonds are actually more expensive than the natural diamonds some diamonds in the mid you are not on the beaches but at the bottom of the sea and De Beers has extractor vessels through which they can dig the seabed up to 120 metres in depth DeBeers has been very lucky because some of the world's finest diamonds have come from its mines in particular the premier mine in South Africa a few years ago we found a diamond that we called the De Beers centenary diamond when it was discovered it weighed 599 carats a huge white diamond perfect purity perfect quality diamond so my name is Sebastian my name is Pascal more wad and I belong to the fourth generation of a family of jewelers who've been exercising since 1890 ie 110 years my family has distinguished itself by acquiring a very large amount of diamonds including eight of historic significance including the jubilee via medibot the Prime Rose the Taylor Burton and some which bear our name like the Malad monolith the Malad splendour which are perfectly pure diamonds of over a hundred carats do you have anything with hearts because I really like hearts yes I have a beautiful river in which all the diamonds are heart-shaped [Music] so if you're looking for something if you're looking for something to match your necklace we have a beautiful evening bag a total of 500 carats of white diamonds the center stone of which is 5.0 2 carats VVS of 2 plus 7 carats of pink diamonds and 11 of yellow diamonds [Music] if the diamond is eternal then the follies that men engage in for it are as well [Music] you

Channel: Voillot Patrick

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Keywords: French, documentary, gemmologist, sapphire, diamonds, diamond, guinée, guinea, gemstone, precious stones, gemmology, patrick voillot, pierre précieuse, pierres précieuses, jewelry, stone, movie, tv, frenchtv, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Antwerp, Rainbow Collection, De Beers, Mouawad, jeweler, prices, million dollars, place Vendôme

Id: 5GCcJ6sLF10

Length: 52min 1sec (3121 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 11 2019