Mbuji Mayi is a diamond town, it's where diamond finders come to sell to the middle men, and the middle men sell to the buyers. We've all heard about the state of artisanal mines, and while we were not able to go see them (they are quite far away), we did venture into a few of the 100+ diamond "comptoirs" to see what was going on.
We started with Petit Beyard--who cares about his diggers (billboard says, 'the diggers first', I'd like to know what the chicken is all about). He has a big office with a big wall, and a number of police on guard. We were two white people and three Congolese dressed for work (ties, jackets), who come in to "see some diamonds". Clearly, we don't speak the language of diamond people, and so we were given a half hour wait time. Off we went, but not before making some people nervous, I think.
Our next stop was the street with all of the smaller diamond dealers, where one gentleman was kind enough to answer all of our questions. Yes, you need a license to buy. Yes, I have a license to sell. There are between seven and ten colors of diamonds. Yes, these are lower quality diamonds that are used for industrial purposes, but you can turn them into jewelry too. These each cost about $500. Yes, there are people here who can cut them for you. Yes, I buy and sell with whoever comes to me, and yes, I can tell by looking at them with my loop what quality they are.
yellow and caramel colored raw diamonds
One of the best parts of the diamond sellers street is the signage.. here's a favorite:
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