Before the discovery of South Africa's diamond deposits, the world's two major producers were India and Brazil Diamond sources started appearing in South Africa during the 1860s The Central Selling Organization was a rough diamond distribution agency. The South African diamond rush was sparked by the discovery of the Star of South Africa. The soft, diamond-bearing material near the surface of a diamond field was named Yellowground Cecil Rhodes' main competitor in his early attempts to control diamond production was Barney Barnato. Who established De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. in 1888? Cecil Rhodes De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. was named after the owners of a farm where one of the first diamond rushes took place. The group that united in 1890 to buy and sell all of the output of the major diamond producers, including De Beers, was the London Diamond Syndicate. Oppenheimer's answer to low diamond demand in the 1930s was to shut down operations at De Beers mines. The Diamond Information Center and the Diamond Promotion Service were created to assist in diamond marketing efforts. The path diamonds followed from mine to consumer was called the diamond pipeline.