(IDEX Online) - HRD Antwerp has terminated its collaboration with a diamond grading lab in Turkey, in what it describes as "the end of unhappy marriage".The lab, branded as HRD Istanbul, was set up as a joint venture six years ago. Ellen Joncheere, CEO of HRD Antwerp, (pictured) said the deal with a private management company had now ended."For many years it was like a difficult marriage," sh...Read More
RAPAPORT... Heading into the holiday season, the Rapaport Diamond Podcast assesses the prospects for the industry considering recent market developments. The Las Vegas shows, followed by the AGS Conclave in Dallas and the AGTA GemFair in Denver, confirmed the positive mood within the trade. That's because "people have had the best sales year of their lives," said journalist Jennifer Heebner, who j...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds recovered two huge diamonds - 245-carat and 102-carat - on the same day from its Letseng mine, in Lesotho.The London-based miner said both stones were high-quality Type II, and were recovered on Friday (15 October).Earlier this year Gem, which owns 70 per cent of the mine, found a couple of even bigger stones - 370-carat and 254-carat - within six days. They were...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lightbox, De Beers' lab-grown diamond brand, will begin selling loose stones in an effort to make its products more customizable.The new offering enables consumers to buy individual lab-grown diamonds at the company's standard price of $800 per carat, Lightbox said Tuesday. Initially, it will focus on round brilliant and princess cuts, with other shapes set to debut in early 2022....Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports beat pre-pandemic levels in September amid a continued recovery and strong demand in the US and China.Global shipments rose 3.1% compared to the same month of 2019, reaching CHF 1.88 billion ($2.05 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said Tuesday. Exports climbed 17% year on year, reflecting a favorable comparison with the Covid-19 downturn in Septe...Read More
RAPAPORT... A set of jewels belonging to the Romanov family, smuggled out of Russia during the 1917 revolution, will go under the hammer at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva.The collection includes an oval-shaped, 26.80-carat Ceylon sapphire and diamond brooch and matching ear clips weighing 6.69 and 9.63 carats. The jewels, which together carry a high estimate of $500,000, will star at the November 1...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A British jeweler breached advertising codes by failing to distinguish between lab grown diamonds and non-diamond simulants.Online retailer Ethica Diamonds, based in Cornwall, south-west England, sold lab growns from Diamond Foundry, together with an artificial, non-diamond product under the same banner. But it did make it sufficiently clear to customers which they were beingThe Ad...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong-based retailer Chow Tai Fook is trialing a line of lab-grown diamond jewelry, indicating a move away from its stated strategy of sticking to natural goods.The brand, called Cama, launched recently on Tmall, a Chinese business-to-consumer (B2C) site, according to a report on a Chinese website that traced the company back to Chow Tai Fook. A spokesperson for Chow Tai Fook...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Angola is to host its first International Diamond Conference next month, in a bid to attract foreign interest and investment.The country is ranked sixth in the world for diamond production, but 60 per cent of its diamond-rich territory remains unexplored.It has only recently offered its stocks beyond eight "preferential customers" and is about to open its own bourse.The conference...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) and celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz have chosen a second batch of designers and unveiled the finished pieces from round one of its Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative (EDDI).Members of the initial draft, all belonging to the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community, will see their pieces sold online, the NDC said last week. The cou...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa reports a drop of 20 per cent in rough diamond sales (quarter-on-quarter) - and a rise of 22 per cent in its gem quality price index (year-on-year).The Russian state-owned miner says global stocks are at their lowest levels for years, pushing prices up as supply struggles to match the bounce-back in consumer demand."Jewelry demand is strong in all the key markets," it says i...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production at Gahcho Ku?(C) dropped in the third quarter as Mountain Province mined ore from a lower-grade portion of the Canadian deposit.Ore from the asset yielded 1.88 carats of rough diamonds per tonne in the three months ending September 30, 14% lower than the same period a year ago. Total output fell 13% to 1.6 million carats, Mountain Province, which owns 49% of the asset, said...Read More
(IDEX Online) - China's diamond trade is heading for a record year in 2021, says the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE).Total imports and exports of rough and polished diamonds through the SDE were $5.718bn from January to September and are likely to top $6bn by the year end. By comparison, in 2018, the busiest year ever for the Chinese diamond industry, total trade was $5.784bn.Net import...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong's polished-diamond imports rose 68% year on year to $3.77 billion in the second quarter of 2021 as the market saw a gradual rebound. However, figures were still lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the most recent data from the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China.Hong Kong Trade Data for 2Q 2021 Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has unearthed two large rough stones from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho, marking the fourth and fifth diamonds from the deposit over 100 carats this year.The stones - weighing 245 and 102 carats - are high-quality, white, type II diamonds, the miner said Monday. The company found both stones on the same day.The recoveries follow that of two diamonds weighing 370 and 254 car...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa today announced record performances at its mines in Angola and Lesotho, reflecting strong post-lockdown demand for diamonds. The Australian miner raised its full-year revenue guidance last week by up to 27 per cent, in what it calls a "resurgent diamond market".It said Q3 throughput at the Lulo mine, in Angola, and Mothae, in Lesotho, were both at record high levels.&nb...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Miners in Australia have unearthed the world's second ever Matryoshka or Russian doll diamond. The 0.844-carat flat, triangular gem has a cavity that contains another tiny diamond, reckoned to be just 0.001-ct, which can freely roll around inside.It was discovered by India Bore Diamond Holdings (IBDH) in the southern part of the Ellendale alluvial deposit, in Western Aust...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's rough-diamond prices have reached their highest level since late 2018 as scarcities prevented the Russian miner from meeting strong demand.The company's rough-price index, which tracks like-for-like valuations, jumped 22% year on year in the third quarter and rose 10% versus the previous three months, it reported Friday.While the diamond market's recovery from the Covid-1...Read More
RAPAPORT... Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) garnered $5.2 million from the tender of a 118.58-carat rough diamond in Dubai, setting a local record.The price was the highest for any rough stone sold on the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) tender floor, the bourse reported Thursday. The piece fetched $44,004 per carat."The stone generated huge interest from the leading specialist manufacturers from...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto's rough-diamond production from its Diavik mine in Canada fell in the third quarter amid the recovery of lower-grade ore.Output dropped 17% year on year to 834,000 carats for the three months ending September 30, the company said last week. The decline also reflected the processing of lower volumes of ore during the period. Output slipped 2% from the previous quarter.For the...Read More