Do you Know Who was Real De Beers?

Diamonds were first discovered in southern Africa in the mid-1860s on the farm of Nicolaas and Diederick de Beer, near what is now the city of Kimberley. Two diamond mines dug on the farm, the Kimberley and the De Beers, Johannes Nicholas De Beer, owner of the farm Vooruitzicht (see picture) on which the De Beers and Kimberley mines were discovered in 1871. They had bought this farm in 1860 from the government for GBP 50, and sold out in 1871 to a syndicate for GBP 6,300. The brothers De Beer disappear from history at this point, but not before giving their name to one of the world's biggest and best-known companies...

De Beers was founded in South Africa in 1888 and today comprises rough diamond exploration, mining and trading companies. De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. is a business organization that has been controlling the diamond trade world wide for the last century. Many people tried to compete such Harry Winston for New York and the Argyle Diamond Company of Australia but the Oppenheimer family that controls De Beers has prevailed in keeping a tight control over the mining and flow of diamonds for as long as diamonds are sought after and is likely to continue in the years to come (Click here to read more about De Beers competition)The various companies within the De Beers “family of companies" are responsible for around 40% of world diamond production by value. De Beers is active in every category of diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea. De Beers is not involved in informal small-scale diamond mining, which is rarely economical for large mining companies.

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