The laboratory’s fittings and microscopes glisten almost as brilliantly as the diamonds themselves. Under the watchful instruction of expert foreign cutters, locals perfect stone after precious stone. With every tweak of their tools, the cutters ensure that a greater share of the gems’ value accrues to the African country from whose soil they were plucked.
It could be a sparkling example of South Africa’s management of its bounteous minerals. The problem – at least for the new government in Pretoria – is that the state-of-the-art cutting factories lie over the border in Botswana.
