Dear Mr Cuellar,
Firstly thank you for writing such an easy to read and informative book on diamonds and the diamond industry. This is something that I have always been interested in and your book has greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of diamonds and the diamond industry.
However, I do have a question I am hoping you can help me with. As I said, I have always had an interest in diamonds, and I want to become a rough diamond dealer in Africa. I am Australian, my wife is Zimbabwean, and my wife’s brother has been doing this in Zimbabwe for a little while now, but these diamonds have come from the Marange site where villagers found a rich diamond deposit and subsequently started mining.
Therefore, they are not Kimberly Certified, so although my brother-in-law has quite a lot of knowledge in rough diamonds, they are still not legitimate, and he sells them onto other people in the capital city Harare.
We both wish to pursue this as a long-term career, and were wondering if you could provide us with any information on what is required and how to do it, in becoming a licensed rough diamond dealer in Africa, and in particular, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.
Basically, we wish to be able to do this in a long-term, sustainable manner that can satisfy any legal and moral requirements.
Any information and advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving your time to this letter, I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Larry Ferrier