Lassonde'isms from interviewAs long as there are women on this planet, diamonds are going to be worth a lot of money. That’s the extent of my analysis . . . . if a women owns three diamonds, she will then own over a dozen.
A 3-carat or more, d-color flawless diamonds are rare – the Ekati diamond mine’s monthly production of this kind of diamond would fit into a shot-glass – that’s it. . . . It’s a work of art by mother nature.
3 big guys control 90% of the market – so the prices are pretty much the same all-over.
Unlike the rest of the metals industry, with diamonds, the miner makes the most money. In the metals business there are miners, fabricators, wholesalers and retailers. Once the stone is out of the ground, the cutters make 10%, the wholesalers make up to 30%, the retailers make up to 20%. But the miner, on the great great stones, makes 98% to 99%. The margins on the mining side can be extreme.