How to Buy Diamonds in Sierra Leone

Source: Sierra Leone Ministry of Mines & Mineral Resources 2024 official records, as reported September 2025. Large-scale operations produced 517,584 carats at USD 187/carat; artisanal miners contributed 62,500 carats at USD 457/carat.

1. Is it legal — and are they conflict diamonds?

Both questions deserve a straight answer.

Yes, it is legal to buy rough diamonds in Sierra Leone through a licensed dealer and exporter. And no, they are not conflict diamonds. The civil war ended in 2002. Sierra Leone participates fully in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and legal diamond exports have increased a hundredfold since the war ended, benefiting the estimated 10% of the population that relies on the diamond industry. Conflict diamonds now account for less than 0.1% of world diamond production, per Kimberley Process and United Nations estimates.

Source: Kimberley Process FAQ; KP participant listing — Sierra Leone.

The Blood Diamond association is thirty years old and still doing commercial damage to legitimate Sierra Leonean miners and dealers. The honest position is that governance challenges persist — but diamonds are no longer financing armed conflict here, and the certification chain exists specifically to prove it stone by stone.

2. The Kimberley Process, precisely

Sierra Leone is a full KPCS participant. In the U.S. Federal Register listing of Kimberley Process participants, Sierra Leone's designated authorities are the National Minerals Agency and the National Revenue Authority.

What the scheme requires in practice:

• Rough diamonds are sealed in tamper-resistant containers.
• Each shipment carries a forgery-resistant certificate with a unique serial number every time it crosses an international border.
• Participants may only trade with other participants — the KPCS prohibits trading with non-participants.
• Governments of both exporting and importing countries check the certificates.

3. Licensing for diamond export

A diamond exporter must hold a legitimate export licence. Specifics worth knowing:

• A licence is issued for one year; half-yearly licences are also issued.
• A fee of USD 1,500 per replacement cost of printing Kimberley Process Certificates is paid on issue of a diamond exporter's licence.
• An applicant may be an individual of any nationality or a registered company, approved by the Minister of Mineral Resources on the recommendation of the Director of Mines.
• Diamonds imported into Sierra Leone must be accompanied by a Kimberley Process Certificate from the exporting country.

4. The three-valuer system

This is the single most important thing to understand about Sierra Leone diamond export, and it is genuinely well designed.

The exporter does not set the value. Three independent valuations are produced:

1. The exporter's declared value, stated on Schedule B.
2. The Government Diamond Valuer's value.
3. An independent valuer's value.

The highest of the three is the value that determines the 3% export duty payable to Government. In addition, a consultant from Diamond Counsellor International (DCI) separately sorts and values the parcel as a counter-valuation check for transparency.

5. Valuation, sealing and certification

The published PMTD procedure, in sequence:

1. 24-hour appointment made at the PMT before export commences.
2. Goods received and weighed to confirm the weight brought in by the exporter.
3. Sized per Schedule B. Different sizes are shared among valuers for sorting and valuation. Weight of each size is entered into the valuation worksheet and signed by the exporter.
4. Prices computerised; the highest of the three prices is indicated as final value on Schedule B, the Kimberley certificate and the analysis sheet.
5. Re-weighed in the presence of the exporter and Mines Monitoring Officer, then placed in a wooden box. Signatories of the Director/Manager, Mines Monitoring Officer and Customs Officer are indicated on the box, along with consignee address, random number, parcel number, parcel code, weight and dimensions.
6. Proof of inflow. Before the certificate is prepared, the exporter produces a bank statement. The valuation price is subtracted from foreign currency deposited — the inflow must cover the total value of goods presented.
7. Duty paid at the central bank using a copy of the Schedule B sheet; a PMT receipt is prepared.
8. Documents vetted at the National Minerals Agency, then signed at the Ministry of Mines: perusal form, valid export licence, signed Kimberley certificate, Schedule B, comparative valuation analysis sheet, declaration form, bank statement, and duty receipt.
9. Certificate sealed in a polythene bag with the wooden box. Snapshots of the Kimberley certificate by the exporter are not allowed.
10. Digital photographs of the sealed parcel and attached certificate are kept in PMTD records for verification — an anti-forgery control.

Source: NMA — Directorate of Precious Minerals Trading, procedures for diamond exporters and diamond valuation.

6. Where you may ship — the six countries

Almost no supplier website mentions this, and it can derail a shipment.

Diamonds must be exported only to KPCS member countries. Beyond that, the Directorate specifies:

• Exporters shipping to destinations outside the EU are required to route the shipment through six designated countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom.
• Exporters shipping to EU countries must show evidence — for example, a flight itinerary.
• All precious minerals for export must depart via the international airport only.
• Copies of Kimberley certificates are deposited with customs at Lungi for legal export.

7. Kono and the alluvial fields

Kono District in eastern Sierra Leone is the historic diamond mining heartland — diamond mining began here in 1930. Production ranges from artisanal alluvial mining, where individuals with basic equipment work river beds under NMA licence, to industrial operations at Koidu and Meya.

Scale, in official figures: Sierra Leone exported 580,084 carats worth about USD 102.3 million in 2024. Production forecasts for 2025–2028 put Koidu at 400,000–420,000 carats annually and Meya at 5,000–75,000 carats.

The country produced the Star of Sierra Leone at 968.9 carats — among the largest gem-quality diamonds ever found — and in 2017 the 709-carat "Peace Diamond" was auctioned by government, with half the proceeds directed toward water, electricity, schools and roads in the community where it was found.

Sources: Ministry of Mines & Mineral Resources 2024 records; BBC News — the 'peace diamond' of Sierra Leone.

8. How diamond buyers get burned

Rough diamond fraud is more sophisticated than gold fraud, because valuation is subjective and most buyers cannot grade a stone.

• Moissanite and simulants. This is the classic. Buyers pay diamond money for stones with no diamond value. It is common enough that experienced dealers who buy in Sierra Leone and Guinea warn about it openly.
• The impossible price. Advertisements offering large stones at a few hundred dollars a carat are not offering diamonds. A top-colour, top-clarity stone with good shape costs many thousands per carat. There is no cheap lunch here.
• The unlicensed street approach. Being shown stones informally in Freetown, Bo, Kenema or Koidu is not access — it is exposure, both to fraud and to prosecution.
• Forged certificates. Precisely why the PMTD photographs sealed parcels with certificates and forbids exporters from photographing certificates themselves.
• The offshore "Sierra Leone" dealer. Several sites ranking for these keywords are registered elsewhere entirely.

9. Frequently asked questions

Buy rough from a desk that shows its work

Nova Parameter SL LTD places Kimberley-certified rough with refiners, houses and private buyers. Every parcel is valued by the system described above — not by us.

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