Ebola Causing Problems for Sierra Leone Diamond Production

Rapaport reported that production from diamond mines in Sierra Leone is on the decline due to the spread of the Ebola virus in the region. Artisanal miners are afraid to work in the country’s alluvial mines, and tight border controls have made trade difficult.

As quoted in the market news:

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever that kills close to 90 percent of those infected. It is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids of the infected.

According to multiple media outlets, scientists have determined that the outbreak began at the funeral of a traditional healer in Koidu, a diamond mining town in Sierra Leone. A dozen of the early victims of the virus were women who attended the funeral and came into contact with the body of the healer as part of traditional funeral rites.

The town of Koidu is located two kilometers from the Koidu kimberlite project, a diamond mining operation in Kono District owned by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources Ltd. Stellar Diamonds’ Tongo mining project is also located in eastern Sierra Leone in the neighboring Kenema District.

Click here to read the full Rapaport report.