Final answer:
Diamond professionals mainly depend on DeBeers for global diamond production. DeBeers manages extensive mining, production, and distribution networks, maintaining a significant influence in the industry. Synthetic diamonds serve as an industrial alternative, offering unique applications due to their hardness.
Step-by-step explanation:
Today most diamond professionals rely on the global diamond production controlled largely by DeBeers, a multi-national company. DeBeers has mining and production operations in countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Canada. Moreover, they have exploration activities on four continents and direct a worldwide distribution network of rough cut diamonds. Despite growing competition, DeBeers still holds a considerable impact on the rough diamond market. Additionally, alternatives to natural diamonds, such as synthetic diamonds, have emerged. With various production methods involving high temperatures and pressures, synthetic diamonds, primarily used in industrial applications, offer different properties such as extreme hardness for cutting and grinding tools.