Diamond Mines Around the World Have Accessibility Problems

It is one of the great problems with diamonds and that is that they are not originally found in easy to get to places. Most diamonds are mined in some of the more inaccessible regions on this planet.

The Ekati mine in north-west Canada to the Kimberleys in far north of western Australian are definitely the extremes. The Ekati diamond mine is owned by BHP Billiton and it is reachable only by an ice road seven months of the year. The Argyle diamond Mine in Western Australia is so hot for seven months of the year that all the workers dream about is enough ice being produced to keep the beer cold in the canteen.

Apart from the extremes of hot and cold because the Aygyle mine in Western Australia frequently gets above plus 40 degrees Celsius for the workers where the Ekati mine in Canada has many days in minus 40, they also have another commonality.

Ekati diamond mine is owned by BHP Billiton and is located south of the arctic circle in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Ekati was Canada's first operational diamond mine. The Argyle mine in western Australia was Australia's first diamond mine.

Many of the diamond producing regions of the world like Zimbabwe have problems of war, famine, political unrest or have been at war both civil and with neighbouring countries that all these problems have added to the inaccessibility of these diamond mines.

And because of these inaccessibility problems it has helped to keep the prices of diamonds high and beyond the average persons buying capabilities unless they umber themselves with months of debt repayments. That is why today many young couples are opting out for engagement rings made from synthetic diamonds just so they don't have too much debt to start off a marriage.

De Beers now own the Argyle mine in Western Australia. De Beers are the largest producer of diamonds from many mine sites around the world and this allows them to control the diamond market.

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