One example is the war being waged over control of diamond mines in Sierra Leone.
The area has the earliest known diamond mines in the world, producing the stones as early as 800BC.
And while jewelry stores may be prettier than diamond mines, when it comes to business, money is money.
The 34.65 carat diamond's origin can be traced back to the ancient diamond mines of Golconda in southern India.
Heavy fighting has stopped, but skirmishes continue between armies dug in round honeypot centres, such as the diamond mines.
The miner has announced its intention to sell all of its diamond mines to concentrate in larger mining segments.
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The tax created a cheap labor force for the whites who owned the coal mines and the diamond mines and the mills.
In Africa, winning power often means winning control of oil fields or diamond mines, which are often the only significant industries around.
De Beers has suspended production at one of its biggest diamond mines.
You should not be able to put money into individual securities (like Enron) or into such exotic alternatives as diamond mines in Uzbekistan.
You would have a menu of sound investment choices-mutual funds, government bonds, bank certificates of deposit-but you could not speculate in Siberian diamond mines.
Cecil John Rhodes, a British imperialist who made a fortune in diamond mines and launched the de Beers diamond cartel, was one of those.
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When not in talks to buy diamond mines, Harry Winston, better known as an international luxury retailer, is working on its jewelry and watch business.
In Congo, it means half a dozen armies and dozens of militia groups fighting over the country's gold and diamond mines between 1998 and 2003, leaving perhaps 3m dead.
At the beginning of the year South Africa's lights started to go out, plunging the thrumming shopping malls and luxury homes into darkness and stopping work in the gold and diamond mines.
This was the case with the Cree over the massive James Bay hydroelectric dams in northern Quebec, the Innu over the Voisey's Bay nickel mine in Labrador, the Inuit over diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, and the 1999 creation of the new territory of Nunavut, the largest land-claim settlement in Canadian history.
During media interviews, he claimed to own gold, diamond and manganese mines in South Africa, Zambia and Congo Brazzaville.
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About 40, 000 of these travelers settled in Cape Town, South Africa, lured by reports of the region's rich diamond and gold mines, but their immigration coincided with the rise of feathers in fashion, and South Africa already had domesticated ostriches who produced some of the highest-ranked feathers in the world.
The diamond came from the ancient Golconda mines, where the famous Koh-i-Noor and blue Hope Diamond originated.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, from Tsvangirai's party, has often accused the Marange mines of not remitting diamond proceeds to the Treasury.
The Darya-e Nur, meaning sea of light, at 185 carats (37 g), the largest and finest diamond of the crown jewels of Iran came from the mines.
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Christie's say that the Princie Diamond is believed to be the third largest pink diamond in the world and was found 300 years ago in the Golconda mines.
The 76-carat Archduke Joseph diamond, described as internally flawless, comes from India's famous Golconda mines.
For a century De Beers mines or those in contract to the company controlled 80% of the world's diamond production.
In December announced that production from its biggest open-pit mines in South Africa and Botswana, which had been running at full capacity, would be reduced until diamond demand recovers.
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