RAPAPORT... De Beers has released the dates of the 10 sights it willhold in Gaborone, Botswana, next year. The miner sells around 90% of its roughat those sales, with the rest available at auctions. The January sight will be the first in De Beers' newintention-to-offer (ITO) period, which is switching to a calendar-year format.Prospective long-term buyers, or sightholders, tell De Beers how m...Read More
(IDEX Online) - With its publication in Arabic, "The Diamond Terminology Guideline" is now available in 10 languages. The latest version, which was published by the DMCC, ensures unity in diamond terminology across Arabic-speaking countries.The guideline sets a universal standard for the diamond and jewelry trade when communicating about diamonds and laboratory-grown diamonds. It is also designed...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Junior miner Diamcor Mining Inc. has reported net income of C$350,676 ($265,208) for its second fiscal quarter, ended September 30. This compares favorable to a net loss of C$417,368 ($315,646) in the prior fiscal year. Despite the increase in profit, Diamcor saw a drop in sales revenue. The company sold 3882.82 carats of rough diamonds, generating revenues of C$730,962 (...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The National Retail Federation has reported that despite a slowdown in the U.S. economy, consumers are still spending and the important holiday season looks on track to perform better than last year. Retail sales in October increased 0.2 percent seasonally adjusted over September and were up 4.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year. "Despite the gradual slowdown in the U.S. econo...Read More
London-listed Petra Diamonds has effected some organisational changes to help facilitate the rapid execution of its Project 2022 strategy.These changes include a flatter management structure, with mines now reporting directly to CE Richard Duffy.AdvertisementThe company on Friday reported that the restructuring had resulted in the removal of the COO role and that Luctor Roode was, therefore, leavi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Zimbabwe plans to reduce the percentage of sales diamond miners must pay to the state, aiming to encourage companies to invest in the Marange fields.The government proposed a new royalty rate of 10% in theannual budget last week. Diamond producers currently pay 15% of gross revenues,but their overall costs have escalated as they shift toward hard-rock - or"conglomerate" - mining,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales and profit slumped at Indian diamond manufacturerAsian Star in the second fiscal quarter as weak rough demand prompted it to reduceits trading activities. The Mumbai-based company supplements its core cuttingbusiness by reselling rough through its subsidiaries, Pranav Kapadia, AsianStar's chief manager for accounts and tax, explained to Rapaport NewsMonday. Revenue from that...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has recovered two diamonds larger than 100 ct each from its Mothae kimberlite mine, in Lesotho.The ASX-listed company on Monday said that a 22 ct diamond and a 127 ct diamond were recovered from the treatment of recovery tailings, and while neither stone was of high quality, their discovery continued to underline the large-stone nature of the M...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto wants to buy a 60% stake in the Star-Orion South diamond exploration site in Canada for CAD 70.5million ($53.3 million), according to project owner Star Diamond Corp. In 2017, Rio Tinto entered into a joint-venture deal under which it had the right to acquire shares in the proposed mine. Its decision to opt in fully to the project comes five years earlier than the origin...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales showed "particularly impressive" growth inOctober as shoppers prepared for the upcoming holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Total purchases for October - excluding automobiles,gasoline and restaurants - rose 0.2% compared to the previous month, accordingto data the NRF published Friday. Monthly salesclimbed 4.2% year on year for the period...Read More
RAPAPORT... A pair of blue diamond earrings will lead a sale of finejewels at Bonhams that includes pieces from the estate of former New YorkYankees owner George Steinbrenner's wife. The set features a marquise-shaped brilliant cut,fancy-intense-blue diamond with VS1-clarity, weighing 1.81 carats, and anoval-shaped modified brilliant-cut, fancy-blue diamond, weighing 1.62 carats. Thosestones are t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds sold a 20.08-carat blue diamond from itsCullinan mine in South Africa for just under $15 million, it said Friday. "We are very pleased with this result, which is in line withour expectations and confirms the resilience in the value of very high-qualityblue diamonds," said Petra CEO Richard Duffy. "We look forward to followingthis exceptional stone's journey to its polish...Read More
(IDEX Online) - As part of its plan to grow its diamond mining sector, the government of Zimbabwe has cut mining royalties from 15 percent to 10 percent of gross revenue, according to reports in Zimbabwe's The Sunday Mail.In his budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube pointed out the difficulty of extracting diamonds from deep deposits. The cut in royalties re...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds Limited has sold the 20.08-carat blue diamond recovered from the Cullinan Mine in South Africa in September 2019 for $14.9 million.The buyer, an anonymous diamond company, paid $741,000 per carat for the gem-quality Type llb diamond."We are very pleased with this result which is in line with our expectations and confirms the resilience in the value of very high quali...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's latest sale of special size rough diamonds (stones weighing over 10.8 carats) held in New York generated $11 million in revenue.The company sold 93 rough diamonds with a total weight of 1,560 carats, which the company said was its best result in the past few months. "This year's last auction in the U.S. performed well," said Evgeny Agureev, deputy CEO of Alr...Read More
RAPAPORT... A pair of blue diamond earrings will lead a sale of finejewels at Bonhams that includes pieces from the estate of former New YorkYankees owner George Steinbrenner's wife. The earrings feature a marquise-shaped brilliant cut,fancy-intense-blue diamond with VS1 clarity, weighing 1.81 carats, and anoval-shaped modified brilliant-cut, fancy-blue diamond, weighing 1.62 carats. Thosestones a...Read More
Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds (BOD) on Friday shared details of its areas of focus and strategy for the near future. This includes the ramp-up of its South African Marsfontein operation, which produced its first diamonds from gravels and residual stockpiles, earlier this week.The company intends to start a pilot production plant in the Marange area of Zimbabwe, restore production at Thorny River, i...Read More
Diamond sales brought Angola revenues of $294.85-million during the third quarter of this year. This represented an 11.7% increase over the figure for the same period last year – or, in monetary terms, a rise of $30.7-million. This information was released in Luanda early this month by the State-owned Sociedade de Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola (the Diamond Commercialis...Read More
Diamond sales brought Angola revenues of $294.85-million during the third quarter of this year. This represented an 11.7% increase over the figure for the same period last year – or, in monetary terms, a rise of $30.7-million. This information was released in Luanda early this month by the State-owned Sociedade de Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola (the Diamond Commercialis...Read More
British Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has indicated that it intends to exercise its options under a 2017 option-and-joint-venture agreement with Saskatoon-based explorer Star Diamonds, which owns the Fort a la Corne kimberlites in central Saskatchewan.TSX-listed Star Diamonds announced on Friday that Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) would exercise all four options – years earlier than...Read More