Liberia is a West African coastal state with a long association with alluvial diamond mining, principally in the country's interior near the borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea. Production is largely artisanal and small-scale, drawn from river gravels rather than from primary kimberlite sources, and the goods are typically of small size and modest quality, although occasional larger stones do enter the market.

Sanctions and the Kimberley Process

From 2001 to 2007 the United Nations Security Council imposed an embargo on rough diamond exports from Liberia in response to the trade's role in financing the civil conflicts of the period and in laundering goods from neighbouring war zones. The embargo was lifted in 2007 after the country acceded to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and Liberia has since traded as a Kimberley Process participant. Recovery of formal export volumes has been gradual.

Trade character today

For the working trade Liberian diamonds reach the polished market through cutting centres rather than under any consistent country-of-origin branding, and there is no premium attached to Liberian provenance. The Kimberley Process certificate accompanying any Liberian rough should be examined as part of the standard chain-of-custody check that any responsible buyer applies to West African goods. Civil-society reporting continues to flag artisanal-mining issues common to the region, including informal cross-border movement of rough between Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire.