Diamond Center May Put Sparkle in Spanish Town

For years, this small Spanish town made its living from peaches, canning and textiles, but Yecheskel Goldenberg sees its future as an international diamond processing center.

Goldenberg opened Spain’s first diamond cutting and polishing factory behind the bullring here last November and now employs 230 workers. He plans to export $1 million a month worth of small, high-quality stones by the end of the year and eventually to enlarge his staff to 750, which would be a boon to economically depressed Cieza.

But that will just be the beginning, according to the Romanian-born Israeli. He maintains that a nucleus of skilled artisans could spark a virtual diamond boom in the town of 32,000 people 85 miles southeast of Alicante.

In an industry where training and keeping good workers is a key to success, Cieza’s small size and relative isolation make it an ideal base for a diamond business, Goldenberg says.

23% Jobless Rate

Cieza has an unemployment rate of 23%, slightly higher than the national average. Regional unemployment officials say the 750 jobs Goldenberg talks about would have an important impact on the town, where many youths leave school without the prospect of a job.

Looking for a place to set up shop in Spain, Goldenberg contacted a consulting firm that arranged a meeting with Mayor Francisco Marinez of Cieza.

Marinez promised to build Goldenberg a factory and applied for about $1.4 million in government grants.

Goldenberg said he has already invested $2 million of his own money in the business and is still waiting for the government aid.

To build a core of skilled workers, Goldenberg offers Cieza’s young people a free three-month training course. He then hires the best candidates to work as cutters and polishers for the equivalent of $340 a month, the country’s minimum wage.

“I can tell within two days whether somebody has what it takes,” Goldenberg said.

Next year, town authorities will add a course in diamond cutting to the high school curriculum.

Most of the world’s diamonds are cut in Belgium, Israel, India, West Germany and the United States.

While a skilled cutter can turn out up to 100 stones a day, Goldenberg’s trainees now average only two to three a day.

Goldenberg said he can live with the low output now as he builds up a group of skilled workers.

European Market

“You can only teach someone to cut a diamond once,” he explained. “In Israel and Belgium they have been teaching workers a certain way for 60 years. You can’t change it.”

Goldenberg’s small stones--200 from a carat--go chiefly to make jewelry in France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.

Even when his factory reaches full capacity, he said, his production will satisfy only 1% of the demand for high-quality gem stones.

Goldenberg got his training in diamond cutting in Israel, where he was re-united with his parents in 1947 after spending World War II hiding from the Nazis in the Netherlands.

He opened his own business in Israel in 1959 with 15 workers. By 1980 he had a staff of 760, but Israel’s high wage scales and tax rate made profits impossible, he said.