Africa is the world's largest producer of diamonds, producing as much as 50% of global production. To date, Africa has produced over 75%, in value, of the world's diamonds with more than 1.9 billion carats worth an estimated $US 158 billion mined. Angola, Botswana and South Africa are leading producers of diamods.

Mining activities are centered around South Central Africa, with diamonds being produced primarily from kimberlite mines (South Africa, Angola, DRC, Ghana, Tanzania, Lesotho and Botswana), followed by alluvial dredging operations (Angola, CAR, Namibia and South Africa) and offshore marine diamond activities (South Africa and Namibia).

Most of West Africa's diamond production in the area originates from fluviatile placers and only on a minor scale from eluvial deposits or from altered kimberlite pipes. Virtually all mines are relatively small-scale operations mainly run by artisanal miners, except for the Akwatia mine in Ghana and the Aredor project in Guinea.

Main artisinal production is centered around the following areas:

• East-central C.A.R., centred around Mouka, Ouadda and Yalinga,
• south western CAR,
• the Birim Diamond Field in Ghana,
• the Yengema area in Sierra Leone,
• south-central Guinea around Gbenko and
• the Lofa River in north-western Liberia.

In most cases, the primary sources of these alluvial diamonds have not been traced yet, therefore making an attractive exploration target.

The discovery of potential diamondiferous kimberlites in Mauritania by Rex Diamonds and Ashton is rated as exciting discoveries and could yield potential. The continuing conflict in Angola between Unita rebels and Angolan Government troops (MPLA) is beginning to spill over into neighboring Namibia and Zambia. As a result, legitimate efforts to produce diamonds in Angola proved yet again difficult. The United Nations wishes to prohibit the purchase of the Angolan stones by the CSO in order to strangle the diamond trade in Angola, which apparantly bankrolls Unita's war effort. As a result, the Kimberley Process has been set up to deal with the issue of conflict diamonds.