In Kimberley, the world's diamond capital, illicit mining fight flounders

An artisanal miner holds an uncut diamond in his hand in Kimberley, South Africa, October 22, 2019. [REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham]

The first South African project to bring illegal miners into the formal fold has been plagued by violence in diamond capital Kimberley, dealing a major blow to national efforts to stem a booming illicit trade.

The project was launched 18 months ago in Kimberley, the site of a 19th-century diamond rush that lured fortune-seekers from the world over. Mine owners granted more than 800 unlicensed, or informal, small-scale miners the right to legally mine around 1,500 acres of diamond-rich waste fields.