De Beers

Rare card · No. 23230

De Beers Group is a British multinational diamond company that specialises in the mining, trading and marketing of diamonds. It operates in 35 countries, with mining taking place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. It also has an artisanal mining business, Gemfair, which operates in Sierra Leone. From its inception in 1888 until the start of the 21st century, De Beers controlled 80% to 85% of rough diamond distribution and was considered a monopoly. By 2000, the company's control of the world diamond supply decreased to 63%. By 2021, its share of the diamond supply had fallen to 25%, equal to Alrosa's share. The company was founded in 1888 by British businessman Cecil Rhodes, who was financed by the South African diamond magnate Alfred Beit and the London-based N M Rothschild & Sons bank. In 1926, Ernest Oppenheimer, a German immigrant to Britain and later South Africa who had earlier founded mining company Anglo American with financial backing from J.P. Morgan & Co, was elected...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Minnaert, CC BY-SA 3.0