Mano’s Diamonds Strategy

Most of the highest quality diamonds found in West Africa, including one of the world’s most famous large stones, the 990-carat ‘Star of Sierra Leone’, have been found in eastern Sierra Leone and western Liberia, with Kono in Sierra Leone being by far the most productive area. The diamondiferous area of West Africa forms part of the Archaean Leo Shield, where the granite and schist belt craton was tectonically thickened during the Liberian Orogeny, some 2,600 million years ago. The diamonds are interpreted to have formed near the base of this thickened crust, and remained there until brought to the surface by later events. Shear zone movements during the Liberian Orogeny may have played a role. However, the dominant mechanism appears to have been the emplacement, during a period of extensional tectonics in the Cretaceous period around one hundred million years ago, of kimberlitic magmas at high crustal levels.

Sierra Leone Diamonds
Liberia Diamonds
Guinea Diamonds