This document considers the economic impact of diamonds in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It states that the many global campaigns to stop trade in conflict diamonds has tended to ignore the benefits of the legitimate industry for these countries. The author describes a study that attempts to verify the claims regarding the positive aspects of the industry. It is important because concern about possible economic damage to these countries has caused NGOs campaigning against conflict diamonds to be less aggressive where consumers are concerned, than might otherwise have been the case.