I think now it's time to get your suitcase packed, fasten your seatbelt and get ready for a trip to Zimbabwe.

Thanks to a thumbs-up from the Kimberley Process, which had previously banned Zimbabwe from trading diamonds mined in the Marange fields due to concerns over reported human rights violations and smuggling, the country will soon put a stock of diamonds worth at least $1.7 billion up for sale.

The Kimberley Process decided last week to allow Zimbabwe unload the 4.5 million carats worth of diamonds extracted from the Marange fields in two supervised sales. The decision on Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds was taken at a meeting last week in Russia that included two days of intense discussion on the issue.

Zimbabwe's monitor for the Kimberley Process Abbey Chikane will be a member of the KP review mission set up to oversee the diamond sales and report on them. The mission's report will serve as a basis for future KP decisions on diamond exports from Zimbabwe.

According to Zimbabwe's Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, the nation's cabinet had agreed to start selling off the diamonds immediately. Speaking in Harare Wednesday, Mpoful noted that the government was finalizing the details of the sale, and the auction would take place "within weeks."

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China inaugurated a new Jewelry Culture and Creative Industry Association office in Shenzhen is May.

During the ceremony, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri said that “China has firmly established itself as a major consumer market and manufacturing center. It now is time to assert itself as a force in jewelry design, and put its stamp on the industry."

China is indeed set to take the jewelry world storm: the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) trade volume in the first quarter of 2010 came to a record high of $559 million – a 91.1% increase (year-on-year), according to recent statistics from the Diamond Administration of China (DAC).

China's diamond imports and exports increased by 100.7% to $524 million, while net imports increased 127.5% percent to $261 million – most of which came from Belgium, India, Israel and South Africa.

With that kind of performance, Beijing is more than ready to become a force in jewelry and diamond industry.

Cavalieri recognized China’s progress into a significant force in the jewelry industry, and stressed it also now has a responsibility to others in the global jewelry sector: “It is most important to remember that we are an international market, and that what happens here in China impacts throughout the global chain of distribution, just as what happens elsewhere will have an effect on the Chinese business.

“In our industry, it is extremely likely that any item of jewelry represents the combined efforts of literally thousands of people living in different parts of the world.

"Every single individual who was in some way responsible for the manufacture of an item of jewelry – from the miner to the refinery worker, to the diamond cutter and the jewelry designer, the manufacturer and the retailer – plays a critical role in the process.”

The Jewelry Culture and Creative Industry Association office inauguration coincided with the Shanghai World Expo 2010, which saw 189 participating countries.

An estimated 70 million visitors are expected to visit Shanghai, during the six-month expo, 95% of them Chinese nationals.

Tens of thousands of visitor are expected to visit the Diamond Exhibition Corner of the Expo, which will display modern jewelry designs and illustrate the history of diamonds.

In addition, Antwerp’s 550-year diamond heritage will be illustrated with ten of the most prestigious antique diamond jewels from the Diamond Museum of the Province of Antwerp, together with the world-famous European Community Championship (ECC) diamond tennis trophy, a tennis racket made of 3.2 pounds of gold and 1,600 diamonds with a total weight of 150 carats, all perfect “Cut in Antwerp” gems.

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Mark Webber made it into Australian history books by winning the 57th Monaco Grand Prix recently. The only other Australian who won the race in Monaco is racing legend Sir Jack Brabham, in 1959.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes, Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes, Monaco edition helmets and steering wheels with Steinmetz Diamonds. Photo by xpb.cc.

The most successful team on the streets of Monaco was McLaren: they won the race on 15 occasions, second is Ferrari with nine wins, third is the Lotus team with seven wins and BRM (British Racing Motors) won the race five times. Cooper, Williams and Tyrell have won the race three times, and finally Maserati, Brabham, Benetton and Renault won the race twice.

Steinmetz Diamonds, one of the official partners of the McLaren team, supplied drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton with diamond-studded helmets for the Monaco race.

In previous years, McLaren drivers have had their initials inlaid into their helmets with diamonds, but this year Steinmetz decided to spice things up: Apart from the diamond-studded helmets, the drivers also enjoyed diamond-inlaid steering wheels – Button's with the number "09," to represent his Monaco win last year, and Hamilton's with the number "08," for his win that year.

"They look absolutely incredible and add a real bit of bling to the cars," Hamilton told reporters. "I won in 2008 wearing a Steinmetz diamond-studded helmet, so I'm hoping it will bring me luck again this year."

Formula One's black gold. Photo by xpb.cc.

Bling aside, neither of the two ended up wearing the diamond-crested helmet, or using the diamond steering wheel during the race.

Why? Well, it seems that diamond supplier Steinmetz learned a valuable lesson from another of the company's misfortune: In 2004 Jaguar promoted the movie "Ocean's 12" and as a publicity stunt, the cars of race drivers Christian Klien and Mark Webber were carrying $200,000 diamonds embedded on the nose cone of their Jaguar.

Unfortunately, Klien hit the barriers and crashed out of the race during the first lap. When his car was retrieved, the diamond mounted on the Jaguar was missing, never to be found again. Steinmetz, it appears, preferred going the "better safe than sorry" route.

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