deBoulle is partnering with close family friends and has effectively added a 5th C to the world of Diamonds — Carat, Cut, Color, Clarity and now Chronicle. Discover a diamond as unique as your love with deBoulle’s exclusive new diamond tracking and mining service. Design the diamond ring of your dream and follow your stone’s journey and history from the mines to your marriage.
A diamond — one of the most rare and beautiful creations possible — is the result of an extraordinary voyage. It has been forged below the earth’s surface over millions of years, where extreme heat and pressure, over time, turned carbon in its purest form into one gleaming stone. Shot by a volcanic eruption into the air, then carried away by rivers — again, over time — a diamond, by the time you feel it and wear it for the first time, has taken an extraordinarily long and winding journey to be with you.
Volcanic eruptions may have brought a stone to the Earth’s surface, but its journey involves a great deal of effort to bring it to you: many tons of rubble and countless hours of labor. Beautiful South Africa is home to some of the largest diamond mines in the world — and deBoulle is now partnering with one of Africa’s most esteemed mining families there to bring you a diamond with a story as unique as you and your fiancé’s love. deBoulle is partnering with close family friends and have effectively added a 5th C to the world of diamonds — Carat, Cut, Color, Clarity and Chronicle.
Because we are always committed to responsible sourcing, deBoulle provides the provenance information for every newly sourced diamond it offers. And, now, our new Personal Diamond Program will also identify — using blockchain as the basis of secure record-keeping technology — where your diamond was found, cut, polished, graded and imported. Through blockchain technology, a unique birth certificate and journey for your diamond is cataloged, which establishes a new level of information transparency.
“Through our direct-sourcing relationship, our clients can feel confident that we are operating in an environmentally and socially responsible manner,” says Denis Boulle, CEO of deBoulle Diamond & Jewelry.
By working closely with our friends in South Africa, we are able to offer unique stones directly from more than 30 diamond mines. All of the mines are wholly or substantially owned by the mining family, who strives to support and expand the growth and need for transparency, only supporting mines that are abiding by ethical and sustainable practices.
Currently, all mining is performed via alluvial mining. The mines are created near where very old rivers once dragged diamonds along riverbeds, millions of years ago. Today, miners pull the ground up in the same direction that the rivers owed, then sift for diamonds. The largest stone that has come from the family mines was 278 carats. White and various colored stones have been found, including yellows, pinks, purples and blues.
Once your rough diamond is unearthed, it is delivered to our skilled, diamond-cutting artisans in South Africa. Before your stone is cut and inscribed with its Gemological Institute of America (GIA) certificate number, it is professionally inspected in the famous diamond city of Kimberley.
What’s more, you can even name your own diamond — anything you wish — whether you commission its creation or discover it already waiting for you at deBoulle.
The Boulle and mining families are committed to ethically sourced diamonds and to the highest ethics in the business, supporting and funding various sustainable-development projects. Here, are just some of the ways we are working together to help improve everything from environmental impact to employee development.
The Northern Cape, primarily desert, has an especially delicate landscape. We, therefore, rehabilitate all the mines. Mine rehabilitation is the restoration of the post-mined landscape to its intended post-mining land use. Rehabilitation offers a number of advantages, which can include improving the visual appearance of the areas, establishing a cover to provide erosion control and improving runoff-water quality. When rehabilitation is complete, pecan trees are planted, which can create jobs for more than 200 people.
We make sure to keep working hours limited to 45 hours per week, and we consistently check the health of our employees. We are very strict about having living wage practices in place — practices that encourage good health and well-being.
We support developmental and social projects for our employees, making sure no one goes uneducated and that all have the best conditions for an enriched life. All the mining operators are trained and highly skilled once in the operating role, and we encourage continued education.