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Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) announced that fully traceable, artisanally mined diamonds from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been sold on the international market in Antwerp for the first time. The initiative aims to give small-scale miners direct access to international buyers and fairer prices.

A first batch of 103.77 carats of rough diamonds from the Kasaï region was offered for sale in Antwerp through OrigemA, a Belgian-Congolese project involving AWDC, the Congolese government, NGO Resolve and technology partner Everledger, with support from the Belgian Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs.

The project uses a digital tracing system that records every step in the supply chain, from extraction in Congo to sale in Antwerp. According to AWDC, this is the first time such transparency has been achieved for artisanal Congolese diamonds.

With OrigemA, we primarily wanted to offer an answer to the challenges faced by artisanal miners in Congo,” said AWDC chief executive Karen Rentmeesters. “In the first place, their diamonds do not find access to international markets, meaning many cooperatives do not receive the fair price they deserve.” The first diamonds sold came from the Kamana Ndeke mine near Tshikapa and were mined by the COMIDIANZ cooperative. The sale was conducted through a public tender organised by Antwerp-based diamond company Bonas-Couzyn.