RAPAPORT... Jewelers of America (JA) has elected Holly Wesche, athird-generation jeweler, to head its board of directors. Wesche, who is the owner of Wesche Jewelers in Florida, willsucceed outgoing chair John Henne, the organization said last week. She waspreviously president of the Florida Jewelers Association, speaker for theJewelers Education Foundation, and vice chair of the Leading...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tango Mining plans to dispose of its South African coalbusiness to focus on its diamond operations, amid "continued operational success" at its Oena mine, the company said. Kevin Gallagher, a director of Tango, will purchase theminer's 74% interest in Kwena Group, which holds its three ongoing coal projects. Aspayment, Gallagher will return nearly 40 million shares of common stock...Read More
RAPAPORT... Retail sales of jewelry and other luxury items fell sharplyin Hong Kong in June amid increasingly cautious consumer sentiment and aslowdown in tourism. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts dropped 17% year on year to HKD 5.75 billion ($734.4 million), themunicipality's Census and Statistics Department reported last week. Sales inall retail categories slipp...Read More
The World Gold Council reported that central bank buying and healthy ETF inflows were the driving forces behind gold demand throughout the first half of 2019. Growth during the first half in jewelry demand was largely the product of a more positive environment for Indian consumers. Shifts in bar and coin investment were very much price-related: as the gold price powered its way to multi-year highs...Read More
The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) reported that for the second quarter of the year the Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) indicated a decrease of 0.1 percent in overall prices of fancy color diamonds. Pink diamonds continued to rise, while prices of blues and yellows declined. Comparing this quarter to the corresponding quarter in 2018, Pink diamonds showed an upturn of 0.4 percent in for t...Read More
Sometimes, a vacationing tip pays off in a big way. Josh Lanik, a 36-year-old schoolteacher from Hebron, Nebraska, recently visited Crater of Diamonds State Park on a family vacation. After spending about two hours searching for diamonds on July 24, Lanik left with a brandy-colored gem weighing just over two carats. According to Lanik, he was searching near the southwest edge of the park's 37...Read More
Reuters reported that Zimbabwe will repeal its indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation dealing with ownership of foreign-controlled companies and replace it with a new empowerment law, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday. In an address to the Zimbabwean parliament, Minister Ncube said foreign investors can now take majority stakes in the platinum and diamond sectors. It shou...Read More
Jewelers of America (JA), the USA's leading national jewelry trade association elected Holly Wesche, owner of Wesche Jewelers in Melbourne, FL, as Board Chair. She succeeds John Henne, of Henne Jewelers in Pittsburgh, PA. Wesche was elected on July 30, 2019 at Jewelers of America's Board meeting that also welcomed new Directors. "Holly Wesche has already made tremendous contributions to...Read More
Since the beginning of the year, diamond prices have declined very slightly, as reported in IDEX's Polished Diamonds Price Index. While the diamond market is subdued, it should be noted over the past four years, polished diamond prices have been very stable and that, during the 48 months of our reporting, they have decreased just a little more than two percent. As usual in the summer months,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelers of America (JA) has elected Holly Wesche, athird-generation jeweler, to head its board of directors. Wesche, who is the owner of Wesche Jewelers in Florida, willsucceed outgoing chair John Henne, the organization said last week. She waspreviously president of the Florida Jewelers Association, speaker for theJewelers Education Foundation, and vice chair of the Leading...Read More
Global diamond producer De Beers Group is most proud of the “energy change” its inclusion and diversity strategy has instigated throughout its value chain – from mining to retail, says De Beers social impact senior VP Katie Fergusson. “We are still early in the journey, but we are making visible progress,” she tells Mining Weekly, noting that more than 30% – fou...Read More
Aim-listed diamond mining company BlueRock has completed the upgrade to the crushing circuit, including the installation of a larger cone crusher, at the Kareevlei mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa.In addition to the installation of the new crusher, the crushing circuit has been upgraded and reconfigured to handle the expected increase in material flows and is now set up to be able to o...Read More
Rough sales plummet due tolack of profit and liquidity squeeze. Midstream pressures caused by high 2017/18rough supply at inflated prices, combined with tighter inventory controls byretailers. Sightholders refuse goods as De Beers keeps prices stable at $250MJuly sight. Rio Tinto 1H diamond revenue -16% to $271M, loss of $5M. Polishedprices continue to soften, with July 1 ct. RAPI -0.9%. Rough pri...Read More
Someimprovement from last week, with more foreign buyers looking for goods. USdemand supporting the market. Manufacturers still under pressure andmaintaining low production levels. Not much buzz for next week's IIJS Mumbaishow, with gold-jewelry suppliers concerned about high gold price. Roughtrading slow after small De Beers July sight. RoundRead More
(IDEX Online News) - Once again, just like during the first half of the year, price developments in rounds in most sizes under a carat were mixed - and minor. However, the few price developments in sizes from 0.90 ct. up to three carats were positive, with the 1.00-1.24 carat range showing 2 to 3.5 percent rises in VVS1-VVS2 / EF and SI2 / DEF goods. In the 2.00 to 2.99 carat range, there were som...Read More
The Plumb Club will be hosting a webinar to help retail jewelers understand today's self-purchasing women. The webinar to be held on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019 at 2:00pm ET. It will cover topics such as: What do retail jewelers need to understand about women as consumers and purchase influencers?How should they be marketing to and communicating with them?How do women buy jewelry?What need...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's knack for recovering unusually shaped diamonds hasscaled new heights with the discovery of a rough stone resembling a fish. "In the photo, you see a very rare specimen: a rough-diamondcrystal which pretends to be a fish," the Russian miner wrote in an Instagrampost Wednesday announcing the find. As with its other similar hauls, Alrosa hooked the catch toa marketing goal, usin...Read More
LVMH reported strong earnings for the first half of 2019, generated by brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior. LVMH's earnings rose 15 percent in the second quarter of 2019, to $14 billion, with the largest growth coming from a 20 percent increase in the fashion and leather goods sector. Asia proved profitable in particular as the region generated at third of LVMH's overall reven...Read More
The USA's National Retail Federation and GfK (Growth from Knowledge) a digital research agency, have produced and published a white paper, entitled "Decoding the Personalization Paradox." The paper is to help retailers and brands apply "personalization at scale." and allows its users to learn more about consumers' needs, desires and concerns about targeting and personalization and how ma...Read More
RAPAPORT... Weak rough prices pushed Rio Tinto's diamond unit into thered in the first half of the year, the miner reported Thursday. The division recorded a net loss of $5 million for the sixmonths ending June 30, compared with a profit of $55 million a year ago. Diamondsales fell 16% to $271 million for the period. Production dropped 10% to 8.3 million carats, primarily dueto a 13% decreas...Read More