(IDEX Online) - Two former employees have appeared in court charged with stealing marine diamonds worth $420,000 from a Debmarine vessel.Emmanuel Shikololo and Rodney Klim, both aged 48, denied theft and conspiracy to steal at the start of their trial at Windhoek High Court, Namibia.They are accused of stealing 453 diamonds, with a total weight of 668 carats between September and November 2011 whi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Four government officials have been arrested in South Africa, following the disappearance of rough gems bought for a diamond cutting course.The suspects, all employees at the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, were detained last Wednesday by the Hawks, the force that specializes in corruption and economic crime. They all face fraud charges.Back in 2010 the European Uni...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province sold $74.1m of diamonds in Q3 of 2021 as prices remained strong.The Canadian miner, which jointly operates Gahcho Kue (pictured), in Northwest Territories, with De Beers, reported sales of 1,028,327 carats, at an average price (USD) per carat of $91.Mountain Province bounced back from a loss of $18.3m last Q2 to a net income of $21.4m in the corresponding period f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The world's third largest rough diamond - a 1,174.76- carat clivage stone recovered at Karowe, Botswana - has gone on display at a New York hotel.The baseball-sized gem (pictured) is being shown at at the Whitby Hotel, in upper midtown Manhattan, by miner Lucara and manufacturer HB Antwerp.They're keen to highlight the stone's natural state, says a Reuters repo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Reforms introduced by India's government could help it reach a target of $43.75 bn exports for this fiscal year.Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said the industry would benefit from revamped gold monetization, and a reduction in import duty on gold and hallmarking.She said total gem and jewelry exports for the first qua...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora has unveiled a strategy that will focus on Gen Z and Millennial consumers, as it hopes double US and triple China revenue from 2019 levels.The Danish jeweler has targeted total revenue growth of 6% to 8% to between DKK 24.8 billion and DKK 26.2 billion ($3.91 billion and $4.13 billion) in 2023, it said last week. It also expects its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Five men who bought diamonds stolen in a series of violent robberies across the USA have been jailed, and ordered to pay over $7m in restitution. They fenced the gems and laundered money for a notorious organized gang known as the South American Theft and Robbery Group (SATG).Its members preyed on traveling jewelry salesman. They held one at gunpoint before beating him to deat...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora has unveiled a strategy that will focus on Gen Z and Millennial consumers, as it hopes to double US and triple China revenue from 2019 levels.The Danish jeweler has targeted total revenue growth of 6% to 8% to between DKK 24.8 billion and DKK 26.2 billion ($3.91 billion and $4.13 billion) in 2023, it said last week. It also expects its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) ma...Read More
RAPAPORT... Grib Diamonds noted solid market demand at its most recent rough sale in Antwerp, with overall prices increasing 5% to 7% compared to the previous auction.The Belgian company, which sells production from AGD Diamonds' Grib mine in Russia, garnered approximately $45 million from its September 23 sale of around 550,000 carats, Antony Dear, Grib's head of sales, said last week.Larger yell...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports were on a par with pre-pandemic levels in August, as strong demand in the US and China was offset by sharp decreases in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.Global shipments slipped 0.4% compared to the same month of 2019, reaching CHF 1.52 billion ($1.64 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said last week. Exports climbed 13% year on year, reflecti...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Income tax officials investigating a leading diamond manufacturer and exporter in India say they've discovered almost $22m of undisclosed income.It follows a series of searches at 23 premises in Surat, Navsari, Morbi and Wankaner in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra. The Income Tax Department has not named the company involved.Documents pertaining to unaccounted purchases and...Read More
RAPAPORT... Antwerp-based technology and service provider iTraceiT is set to launch a new traceability solution for the diamond and jewelry industry.The software, which can authenticate diamonds of all sizes, uses a unique QR code to record, store and display all processes performed on any gemstone from its point of origin through to its sale, the company said last week. Certain information is aut...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora has unveiled a strategy that will focus on Gen Z and Millennial consumers, as it hopes to double US and triple China revenue from 2019 levels.The Danish jeweler expects revenue to grow by 6% to 8% each year, reaching between DKK 24.8 billion and DKK 26.2 billion ($3.91 billion and $4.13 billion) in 2023, it said last week. It also expects its earnings before interest and tax (E...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The De Beers founder Cecil Rhodes pushed the German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II towards war with Britain, it has been claimed.He flattered the emperor into believing Germany should no longer remain in Britain's shadow, and that he had an historic role to play.The Kaiser went to lose World War One, a conflict that cost an estimated 40 million lives.The claims about De Beers, repor...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Belgian tech company says it will use QR codes to record every step in a diamond's journey, providing a "traceability solution" for the whole industry.The company, iTraceiT, is currently working on pilot projects with partners and says it will launch globally later this year.It claims its technology will be an "industry-wide, independent, user-friendly and totally secure too...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sales of watches and jewelry in the US were up 36 per cent year-on-year in July. But what looks like a significant rise actually reflects the impact of lockdowns last year more than anything else. Sales totaled $115m in the month, compared to $120m in June and $114m in May. So there are no big shifts to report in actual sales. The industry was recovering by July, so the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 1.50-ct diamond was found to have a fake inscription and to have undergone color treatment when it was submitted for certification.The HRD Antwerp lab found the stone's carat weight, color, cut, and final clarity grade (VS1) precisely matched those of the accompanying GIA report.But there were discrepancies in the clarity characteristics. Close examination revealed the...Read More
RAPAPORT... A Texas court has sentenced five men to a combined 16 years in prison for selling stolen goods on behalf of a Colombian gang, and has ordered them to pay $7.5 million in restitution.The five, among them a prominent jewelry dealer from New York's 47th Street Diamond District, were brought up on money-laundering charges, the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Tex...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) is creating new guidelines for the industry's use of lab-grown materials, the group said Thursday.The rules - which will cover synthetic diamonds and gemstones - aim to establish best practices, including a requirement for full disclosure when jewelers use any lab-grown material in their products. The new standard will be separate from the organi...Read More
Trading quiet during Jewish and Indian festivals. China slowdown injects caution into the market. US retail upbeat. Nov.-Dec. holiday jewelry sales expected to climb 59% vs. 2020 figures and +53% vs. 2019, says MasterCard SpendingPulse. Rough market steady. Alrosa Aug. sales +41% to $306M. Polished inventory levels increasing ahead of Nov. 4 Diwali break. Six-week backlog at GIA Mumbai lab. Invest...Read More