Diamond facts

Diamonds are best known as gemstones, even though only about 20% of the world's production by weight is used for jewellery. The other 80%, known as bort, is used in industrial and research applications where the unique properties of diamonds are required.

Learn more about diamonds

Uses

As the hardest known material, diamonds have been used for centuries as an abrasive in cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing. This is the dominant industrial use for diamonds.

Diamonds also have the highest thermal conductivity of any material at room temperature and are used as a sink to dissipate heat in electronic devices such as computers and diode lamps.

Production

Canadian mines produced 18.6 million carats of rough diamonds valued at $2.25 billion in 2019, representing a 20% decrease in volume and a 17% decrease in value over 2018.

Key factors concerning the decrease in volume:

• Four out of the five active diamond mines in Canada recorded decreases in production volume in 2019.  Only the Renard mine in Quebec recorded an increase. 
• Most of the decrease in volume of Canadian production is due to lower production at Ekati, where carat production dropped about 65% because of final depletion of the Misery open pit in mid 2018 and. As well, the replacement of most of Ekati’s high grade ore feed by lower grade ores from the Lynx and Sable open pits affected production.
• At Diavik, the number of carats recovered declined by about 8% because of decreased ore availability and a lower grade of ore from the underground operations,. However, the decrease was partly offset by higher volume and a higher grade of ore from the A21 open pit.
• At Gahcho Kué, about 2% fewer carats were recovered, primarily because of the mining and processing of lower grade ore from the 5034 Southwest Corridor (SWC). As well, the larger volumes of ore tonnes mined and treated from the 5034 Center Lobe, which has the lowest grade of the 5034 kimberlite, affected the yield.
• Mining ceased at Victor early in 2019, with the last economic ore processed in the second quarter, which explains the ~35% decrease in production volume at Ontario’s first and only diamond mine.
• The large increase (~47%) at the Renard mine is mainly due to the exploitation of a higher grade zone.

Key factors, that caused the decrease in value:

• The decrease in production volume at the three active diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, as well as the significant decrease in production from the high-value-per-carat Victor mine in northern Ontario
• Lower realized prices in a weak and challenging diamond market

International context

Find out more about rough diamond production on an international scale:

Trade

Exports

• Canada's total primary exports of diamonds were valued at $2.21 billion in 2019.
• The value of diamond exports decreased by 23% in 2019, mainly because of a decrease in the volume and value of the rough diamonds exported.
• Canada's most important diamond export items by value were unsorted rough diamonds, gem-quality rough diamonds and gem-quality cut diamonds.
• Exports were shipped mostly to India, Belgium and Botswana.

Imports

• The estimated value of Canada's total primary imports of diamonds was $466 million in 2019.
• The value of diamond imports decreased by 7% in 2019, mostly because of a decrease in the volume of gem-quality rough diamonds imported.
• The top import item by value was gem-quality cut diamonds, most exceeding 0.5 carats in weight, followed by gem-quality cut diamonds, most not exceeding 0.5 carats in weight, and by gem-quality rough diamonds.

Prices

There are no internationally set prices for rough gem-quality diamonds, as there are for many metals and other commodities. Mining companies hold “sights” at regular intervals to market their production. The prices reached at these sights are dictated by supply and demand for each of the many categories of diamonds.