Pursuits

Was Billionaire Steinmetz Betrayed by CEO Over Diamond Mine?

  • Steinmetz's Koidu diamond mine supplies stones to Tiffany
  • Coach chairman and actor Jeffrey Wright wanted to buy mine

A diamond prospector filters earth from a river in Koidu, Sierra Leone.

Photographer: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images
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The prize is a chunk of African earth that yields some of the most valuable diamonds on the planet for premium jeweler Tiffany & Co.

The fight for the Koidu mine in Sierra Leone pits embattled Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz and his BSG Resources Ltd. against a government struggling to revive an economy crippled by the global commodities slump and Ebola’s deadliest outbreak ever.