Conditions grim in Sierra Leone's diamond mines
Blogged by: Kate Thomas
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Labourers work at a diamond open cast mine. REUTERS file photo by Dylan Martinez
It could have been a scene from a movie. Another long, hot day was coming to an end and the African sun was sinking into the dusty red earth. As the blue sky blushed, he knelt in front of me and held out a sparkling rock. But this was no proposal. And if it were a movie it could only have been "Blood Diamond".
Last year the Hollywood blockbuster brought the story of Sierra Leone's brutal diamond-fuelled war to the silver screen. The conflict ended in 2001 and since then the recovering West African nation has made great strides in combating illegal exports of blood diamonds.
Sierra Leone's stone exports are on track to reach £80 million ($160 million) this year - the highest level since the end of the war. But that's not to say the gem trade is cut and polished. Profit margins between dealers and miners remain stark, and conditions in the country's dirty malarial pits still leave much to be desired.
I had woken early that morning, long before the sun, for the three-hour drive to a diamond pit near Sierra Leone's border with Liberia. The night before, eating in a dusty, noisy chop house in town, I met a Sierra Leonean diamond dealer who had offered to take me to his mine.
As fat raindrops wash rubber plantations, we drive through cassava fields and clusters of dark green banana trees. Eventually we pull up at a traditional mud-hut village where groups of women sit singing as they cook rice beneath zinc verandas. From here it is a short hike to the diamond mine. As we walk, streams of ants zigzag beneath our feet and the diamond dealer talks.
"I have around 20 guys working for me" he says, sucking on a cigarette. "But it's so hard to get good miners. I had to fire someone yesterday for fighting over rice at lunchtime." he says, rolling his eyes. "We mine for everything here...red diamonds, gold diamonds, white diamonds, rubies... This country is full of natural riches."
Despite being blessed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of minerals, Sierra Leone consistently ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world. The average salary for a labourer working in a diamond mine is 100,000 leones a month, or $30. That doesn't go very far around here.
At the mine I meet Thomas, a 48-year old labourer standing thigh-deep in the cool waters of the pit. He's in the middle of telling a joke when I arrive. "We don't earn very much, but we try to smile," he later tells me. "Maybe one day I'll find a big diamond and become a rich man."
Six other labourers are working hard, concealed behind a wall of thick elephant grass. It's early but the sun is already beating down. Thomas pulls off a ripped t-shirt and throws it down on a pile of sand.
I watch as the miners dig, sift and pan for diamonds from early morning to dusk. At noon, women from the nearby village bring communal bowls of Jollof rice, a traditional dish of chicken, tomato and onion.
One of the miners is named Borbor. "My name sounds like Poor Boy," he says with a cheeky smile. "When I become wealthy I'll change it to Rich Boy."
Everyone laughs, probably because we all know it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
Government estimates say 200,000 to 300,000 labourers work in the country's diamond mines. Many of those are supporting families, holding onto the hope that they might strike it lucky one day. It's a constant gamble.
When a diamond is found, the rewards are meagre. Dusk is falling when Borbor spots a stone the size of a grain of rice. The diamond dealer pays him 10,000 leones ($3.50) for his effort. That might buy a few loaves of bread, a wedge of processed cheese, a box of matches and the most precious thing of all - a lift to work in the morning. The other miners will walk.
Later, as he blows a cloud of marijuana smoke into my face, the diamond dealer tells me he hopes to make around $15,000 from Borbor's diamond. He plans to sell it to a retailer in North America.
"Life is good," the dealer laughs. He raises his glass of sweet palm wine but I'm already thinking of Borbor and I don't meet his gaze.
The trade in conflict diamonds may be a thing of the past in Sierra Leone but conditions in the mines are far from good. As Sierra Leone prepares to go to the polls for the second round of presidential elections on September 8, all eyes are on the importance of curbing corruption and encouraging transparency.
Until miners like Borbor are paid fairly for their work, my glass will remain on the table. I can't think of anything to drink to.
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5 responses to “Conditions grim in Sierra Leone's diamond mines”
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Kate Thomas is a foreign news reporter for the Independent, paying special attention to humanitarian and development stories. She has reported from West Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia. Kate has previously worked in the NGO sector in Thailand, Cambodia and the UK, and regularly contributes to travel supplements and guidebooks on developing countries.
06 Sep 2007 09:27:22 GMT
Dear Kate Thomas:
Thank you for the information! I believe the Miners of Sierra Leon need to be unionized. I will locate what is possible. Signed: Joseph Raglione Ex/Dir: The World Humanitarian Peace and Ecology Movement.06 Sep 2007 18:53:54 GMT
During my stay in Sierra Leone (6 years in total) I managed to visit one such diamond mine. The words above paint a vivid picture for me of the laborious work that is going on. Unfortunately the diamond recovery is (well appeared so to me) so meargre that the effort seems hardly worth it. yet day after day the workers return ably supported by their cooks. I spent my working days at a rutite mine in the Kenema district and while this was a "modern"operation with reasonable financial backing wages paid to the lesser skilled employee were small. Nationals who had mannaged a good education in the US the UK or both were well paid. The gap between rich and poor in Sierra Leone is of epic proportions. Anyone who has had the opportunity to walk or drive around Freetown will vouch for this.
Strangely there is a happiness about the village life that is infectious and the ingenious metods used to earn a living are amazing. If anyone out there can tell me how to get back to Salone with an NGO or humanitarian basis please let me know.06 Sep 2007 18:56:49 GMT
To Kate Thomas;
Once again a fine report on the drudgery of the poor in Sierra Leon. And once again you clearly point out the problems, associated with all impoversed peoples. Greed by those they work for. Joseph Raglione, speculates that the miners be unionized and this will end the problem. Not by a mile. The government and the industry must set the issue straight. Set a minimum wage dealers can pay the workers, or no permit to mine. Then lets talk unions.21 Sep 2007 07:39:04 GMT
Dear Kate,
What you say is oh so sadly true. I am currently doing an senior project on Conflict Diamonds. What i find hard is that no one seems to know about them or the RUF, or the oppression of Sierra Leone. It's blogs like these that opens people's eyes. Keep up the good work, my prayers are with you28 Oct 2007 11:18:40 GMT
I read with interest what has been said above and can fully understand why people are saying what they are saying, however, I myself had mines in SL in 2005, some of the best mines in the country, I was living in Sefadu with everything I had on the line including my home of 27 years, I lost the lot and ended up with a nervous breakdown due to my backers pulling out at the last minute and leaving me with up to 14 mines opened at different stages, I lost everything, what did the workers care, not a bit. I treated them all with the utmost respect, and now and again when I heard a sad story I would give £20 to whomever had told me to try and help him or his family out and I wouldn't see them again for two weeks. I myself was paying 6000LE a day to the workers, 50% more than other miners, and as far as a diamond the size of a grain of rice being worth $15k there is not a hope in hell of that, so once again everything is being based on ! the words of a few idiots and not actual fact, stones of that size are worth $120 per carat maximum, and that size would be about 8 of them to a carat, and if anyone was paying any more than $120 per carat the queue would be a mile long every night at his door. So lets not make out that people who are puting everything on the line are using these people, I love the people and the country, the facts are that a family can live on 5000LE a day comfortably, and far less most of the time. I myself am hoping to go back to SL and do a lot of work, at present I have less than the miners, I don't even have 5000LE to my name, but I will get back out there, and I will make a lot of their lives better and hopefully make mine own a bit better also. So stop blaming everything on the ine owners, because trust me, they are not all bad, I know there are a few, but there are many more people lose everything out there than make it, in fact I would put the losers at 90% and I was one of them. When I had to come back to the UK after running out of money, the day after one of my workers stole a 65carat stone and ran away, my manager and the police found him a week later with no stone, as far as I know he is still in jail, that goes for 99% of the people over there including the politicians of which I met many, they would steal the mobile phone out of your hand, so yes, lets help them, but also don't blame everything on the white man. In my experience, every single man I gave extra money to, he didn't turn up the next day, fact! so what do you propose paying them as a minimum wage? $5 a day? that's 2-3 days off, $10 a day, they would just take the week off, where would that leave the mine owners/Sponsors? I'll tell you, nowhere, because after a week or two of running around looking for new men every day I certainly wouldn't be staying, then once they see that the men like me aren't coming back they will say to hell with the unions and minimum wage simply because they want to earn their 5000 (£1) or if Mr Robert is there 6000LE a day so that they can eat. I certainly don't know what the answer is, it is however much deeper routed than people that know nothing about it making decisions for them, talk to them, see what it is that they want. God knows they all want to be millionaires like "everyone in England" everyone that finds a stone would come to me and ask for $1 million, but after 5 minutes would be happy to go away with £20 or $200 or whatever the fair price is. And I can assure you of this, they are all on the internet at night in the Cafe's and they all know to within $1 exactly how much their stone is worth in Antwerp and they want exactly that, please believe me when I say, the people of Sierra Leone have stolen far more from the investors than has ever been made, yes a few people have made very big money if they hit a lucky dip and then do a runner, but to end, even if you put a minimum wage of $5 a day, then diamonds would double in price overnight, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing, but like I have said, take a real look at things before you start blaming people, you can't help someone if they don't want to be helped. Finally, on my last day at my mines I bought all of the workers in Number 1 Mine their lunch, in total 79 men, a bowl of cava leave stew and rice each, enough cigarettes for 2 a man and a mountain of bananas, 3 or 4 each at least, and the girls tried to give me change from £20 ($40) Those are the facts, the cost of living is nothing. On the other hand, an investment of £500K ($1M US) is required to clear one mine of 1 acre, and at the end of that some mines you leave with no stones whatsoever, could the people that want a minimum wage pay for that? well, would you??? "if it aint broke don't fix it"