Without a shadow of a doubt this is exactly what is going on the ground, but to base this conclusion only on Antwerp's trade statistics is, to say the least, bad science. Although it might be tempting to focus on this latter parameter, it will not provide information that may link provenance to origin. All major diamond deposits, weather primary kimberlite or secondary alluvial deposits, have characteristics that make it stand out. The amount of diamonds that can be mined from one area is specific and is determined by the amount and nature of the primary deposits and the nature of the secondary alluvial deposits. The parameter that links this quantitative characteristic to the trade statistics is obviously the weight as expressed in carats.
Diamonds differ also from one area to another in quality .
Although there is no direct mention of quality in statistics, the ratio of the value in dollars to the weight in carats comes close in giving an accurate description of that quality. Applied to the Sierra Leone and Liberia - situation, it becomes quite clear that neither Sierra Leone nor indeed Liberia could possibly have produced the staggering amounts of rough diamonds that have been imported in Belgium since 1990. Whereas the imports of diamonds from Sierra Leone on Chart 1 are a good representation of its production capacity determined by the geological conditions, on the contrary Chart 2 shows imports recorded from Liberia that bear no relationship to local production capacity. When confronted with the weight imported, it becomes evident that only a few countries could be responsible for amounts of the order of several million carats. In 1989, for instance, more than 11 million carats have been declared coming from Liberia.