The gap between the demand for, and the supply of, diamonds is set to widen from 2008, thanks mainly to a surging demand in India and China, Tawana Resources MD Wolf Marx said last week.
He added that the size of the diamond-consuming market in the two Asian countries is expected to grow from 33-million consumers to 65-million consumers by 2015.
In another development, he said the worldwide budget for diamond exploration had risen from $250-million in 2002 to $850-million in 2006, adding that many of the current diamond mines were beyond their production peaks, and exploration and acquisition focus was shifting back to Africa, where there was a new diamond rush.
miningweekly.
