the future of diamonds

"The DeBeers stock at the time of Asian currency crisis of 1997/1998 had a value of several billion dollars. Our senior management questioned whether holding such a large stock was a sustainable and efficient use of capital," Davies said, "and this triggered a strategic review that resulted in a decision to liquidate the stockpile over a number of years." Responding to that claim, Vanderlinden said, "we can only take them at their word. Nobody really knows. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle."