BACKGROUND
Sierra Leone is situated in western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia. A former British colony with a current population of 6.1 million, Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961.
The economic and
social infrastructure of Sierra Leone is not well developed. Nearly half of the
population survive by subsistence agriculture, although alluvial diamond mining
(mining that extracts diamonds from deposits of sand, gravel and clay, which
have been naturally transported by water erosion and deposited along either the
banks of a river, the shoreline or on the bed of the ocean) accounts for nearly
half of the country's exports and is the most significant source of hard currency
earnings.
English is the
official language of Sierra Leone but only 35% of its citizens are literate.
The average life expectancy is 40 years and AIDS/HIV affects 7% of the
population.
Diamonds were
first discovered in Sierra Leone in 1930. In addition to diamonds, the country
also has several other natural resources - titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore,
gold and chromite.
http://www.diamondfacts.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=129&Itemid=167&lang=en
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