How much are diamonds marked up in each stage of the supply chain from discovery in Africa to US jewelry store?

I hear the workers in Africa get paid a couple dollars for every diamond they find, so I'm wondering how much diamonds get marked up at each stage as they move through the supply chain all the way to jewelery stores here in the US. Who's making the most money?How much are diamonds marked up in each stage of the supply chain from discovery in Africa to US jewelry store?
Africa is not one country, so one cannot generalize.



This is a controlled market to some extent, although black market clearly does exist (think conflict diamonds). "Developed" countries such as South Africa/Botswana pay their workers GOOD fixed wages in this industry to try to minimize the risk of illicit diamond smuggling/theft etc, whereas some countries (think Blood Diamonds here) pay workers a pittance so they are more prone to theft/smuggling. That's not to say that theft/smuggling does not happen in SA. It is just less prevalent. I've also heard that in SA if a miner finds a whopper down in the mine, then he/his team gets a bonus for it. Everyone wins in this instance. This overall situation therefore means that mines in countries such as SA/Botswana do not pay workers "for the number of stones found" as it just leads to risk that every man then claims "I found it, I found it" and start fighting each other 3 miles down the shaft.



I understand that the biggest mark-up happens once the the diamond is in the cutting and polishing stage. That is why countries such as Botswana and SA want to do more of this processing in-country, vs. out-of-country (when the profit and taxes end up in another country's pockets) as the goods are no longer under jurisdiction/ownership in those two countries.



Also not every stone found is a whopper. There are a lot of tiny, low grade, low value stones found in every day's mining, and these are clearly not going to fetch the ultimate price that a top-grade stone such as Liz Taylor's diamonds are going to get. I've been to a mine when the valuer was there, and from the entire batch of stones, you could fit all the top grade stones into the flattened palm of your hand, whereas the amount of lowest grade stones would overflow from your hands if you cupped your two hands together. As people say, Quality is rare.



So to answer your question "where's the money" - it's higher up the chain!!