By: Vanessa O'ConnellAND

The Oddball Team

Many stones are beginning to be cut by non professionals

Tiffany's is trying to train over 80 workers to cut diamonds

The quality of Tiffany’s diamonds may be decreasing

Tiffany’s is one of the largest diamond retailers

Was started by Charles Lewis Tiffany

Price of individual diamonds are beginning to increase

Global market is expected to fall 16% To $65 billion

U.S. Expected to loose 900 specialties stores this

year 1,500 closed last year

Because of the diamond price increase, many companies are trying to find new ways to get diamonds

One way to do this is by having other countries cut and polish diamonds

Ex: Botswana, Canada, Belgium, South Africa, Vietnam, China, and Mauritius

Founded in New York in 1837 Was a stationary and “fancy goods”

emporium Mr. Tiffany bought large jewelry collections

at this time of fancy goods Much of what Tiffany’s sells is not diamonds Tiffany’s may buy things such as cutting

machines from other companies Botswana is the world’s largest producer of

gem-quality diamonds Tiffany’s could not easily get into Batswana

In 2006 Botswana decided to license 16 international cutting firms

Tiffany’s decided to work with Botswana These companies got workers from

Botswana with a high-school-level education

These workers started working with inexpensive diamonds

There are two different types of workers that are needed to make the diamonds

Bruters round the diamond pieces Polishers add top and bottom facets, looking

at magnified images of their diamonds captured by a lens near the whirring polishing wheel

Trainees who learn such basics of bruting and faceting become "qualified" workers in four to six months

About 30 % fail, the rest start handling gem-quality stones, working at a pace of up to one polished diamond a day

For now, the plant's local workers produce about 250 finished gems each week, primarily "round brilliant" stones, with 57 light-reflecting facets, for Tiffany engagement rings

About 85% of the stones are considered "Tiffany qualified," and are forwarded to a Tiffany office for grading

Local workers started to complain about their work environment saying it was unprofessional and they did a sit in saying they weren’t going to work until there issues were addressed but then Mr. Lejuta warned them they could be fired because their strike was unlawful

Responding to the letter and strike, Tiffany said workers expressed concerns as part of a union organizing effort, and that it intends to address grievances with a union representative

The Botswana government is pleased with Tiffany's commitment to train residents. Other polishing plants are experiencing strikes

But Tiffany plans to keep pushing forward and begin clearing land this year to build a 20,000-square-foot factory. Set to open in 2011, it will employ as many as 275 workers

If someone could work with these foreign companies and somehow sell these diamonds for less than large companies, a small diamond jewelry store could be started.