Rio Tinto Diamonds, the second biggest miner of rough diamonds in the world, plans to address a shortage of rough diamonds in India by looking for new mines in the country, reports CNBC-TV18. India is the largest market for polishing of rough diamonds.
Rio Tinto has been prospecting for mines in India for the last four years and has already spent US $ 20 million in the effort. The spend this year is pegged at around US $ 4 million. In case of the discovery of a mine from where diamonds can be extracted profitably, the capital costs may climb even as high as a US $ 1 billion.
The company is looking for mines with the hope that those will help them overtake De Beers as the biggest manufacturers of diamonds in the world in the end. “The aim is to find a mine faster and begin extraction,” Douglas Ritchie, MD, Rio Tinto Diamonds told CNBC-TV18.
India exported diamonds worth US $ 11 billion last year. Polishers of rough diamonds in the country earn their profit by reselling diamonds in the international market.
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