RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp.'s revenue rose more than sixfold year on year in the second quarter as demand for polished stones drove up rough prices.Revenue from the company's Karowe mine in Botswana soared to $46.3 million for the three months ending June 30 from $7.5 million a year ago, it said Wednesday. While sales volume remained flat at 68,961 carats, the average price jumped to $671 per...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The US is set for a weddings boom in 2022, as couples re-schedule after lockdown.The number of ceremonies is forecast at 2.47m, according to the market research company Wedding Report.That's almost double the historic low of 2019, when there were just 1.27m weddings, and up significantly on 2021, with a predicted 1.93m.It will provide jewelers with an extra boost, in addition...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Four high-quality diamonds have been recovered from the newly-discovered extension to a kimberlite pipe in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.Botswana Diamonds also reports abundant kimberlitic indicators from drill samples at the Thorny River kimberlite extension, which was discovered in November 2020.It says indications so far are very encouraging, and it will embark on another...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A major underground expansion at the Karowe mine, in Botswana, is forecast to contribute $4bn in extra revenue, says Canadian miner Lucara.The total cost of the project is $534m, fully financed by a $220m senior debt facilities package, $33m of equity financing and projected cash flows from current drill and blast open pit operation.The underground project is expected to prolong th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamcor Mining's average selling price rose 90% between its two July tenders as the miner recovered larger, gem-quality rough, it said Monday.The company garnered $271,509 from the early July sale of 1,560 carats it produced at its Krone-Endora at Venetia mine in South Africa, achieving an average price of $174 per carat. At the end of July, the miner held a second tender that yielded...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds enjoyed a continued recovery in rough demand during the first half of 2021, with an improvement in market conditions boosting prices for its goods.Rough sales reached $104 million for the period, the miner said Wednesday - 41% higher than the figure the company reported a year earlier. Sales volume jumped 27% to 55,124 carats, while the average price climbed 10% to $1...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's rough and polished sales hit their lowest point of the year in July, down to $334m (provisional) as demand outstripped supply.Miners are struggling with inventories at record low levels, the company said today, reinforcing an earlier warning of a long period of "supply deficit". And prices are back to pre-Covid levels.Total sales in July were down more than 18 per cen...Read More
RAPAPORT... Group revenue at Watches of Switzerland increased in the first fiscal quarter amid strong consumer demand in the US and UK and a spike in online traffic.Sales grew 96% year on year to GBP 297.5 million ($414.3 million) in the three months ending August 1, as the US and UK divisions reported solid domestic growth in sales of luxury watches and jewelry, the company said Tuesday. E-commer...Read More
RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond shipments continued their recovery in July as the sector benefited from a global rebound in demand.Polished exports - after returns - jumped 68% year on year by value for the month, the country's Ministry of Economy and Industry reported Monday. Polished imports gained 120%.Rough imports leaped 89%, while rough exports more than tripled, boosted partly by the 2020...Read More
RAPAPORT... An Israeli financial-technology company is set to offer almost $8 million in credit to the diamond industry every month after receiving a license to operate in the sector.MDPS, which stands for Mazalit Digital Payment Solutions, claims to be the world's only accredited non-bank financial institution dedicated to the diamond industry. It has promised to fill the gap left by traditi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales jumped year on year in July amid steady consumer demand for diamond jewelry, even as revenue for the month was the lowest since the start of 2021.Diamond revenue surged to $334 million, up from $35.8 million a year earlier when the coronavirus pandemic stunted sales, the miner said Tuesday. Sales were also nearly double those of July 2019, when the company sold $170.5 mi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamond billionaire Nirav Modi has been granted the right to appeal his extradition to India, after a judge ruled he was severely depressed and could kill himself.Modi, 50, (pictured) is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in an alleged $1.85bn fraud.He was arrested in London in March 2019 as India's most want...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Israel's diamond trade is bouncing back as global demand recovers, and business booms with UAE following last September's normalization agreement.Rough exports were up 229 per cent year-on-year for January to July, to $1.05bn, according to Ministry of Economy and Industry figures. In July almost 11 per cent of rough exports were to UAE, a market that was officially c...Read More
RAPAPORT... Foreign attendance at the upcoming JCK Las Vegas show is hanging in the balance, with key diamond centers sending far fewer exhibitors than normal amid continued Covid-19 measures.The Belgian diamond industry will not run a pavilion, while India's section will only house exhibitors' local representatives, spokespeople for the respective national trades told Rapaport News. Some ove...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Russian authorities are investigating allegations of widespread tax fraud at jewelry factories, after production increased sharply - but employee numbers in the sector fell.The governor of the Kostroma Province, home to 60 per cent of Russia's jewelry industry, is concerned that workers who returned after Covid lockdowns have not been registered, and tax is not being paid.Serg...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora has increased its sales outlook for the current year following strong growth in the past quarter and a reduction in the number of stores it expects to close.Sales will rise by 16% to 18% year on year on an organic basis for 2021, the Danish jewelry retailer predicted Friday. That compares with a previous forecast of above 12%.The update came on the back of an 84% year-on-y...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company plans to begin processing the first ore from its newly acquired Merlin mine in Australia within the next 24 months.The company is currently working with the liquidators to complete administrative requirements and finalize the sale, after which it will begin work at the site, Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall told Rapaport News. The miner purchased the de...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A painting that incorporates 500 polished diamonds has sold for $87,000 - almost 10 times its high estimate - at Phillips London.The US artist known as Genesis the Greykid, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, started using diamonds in his work when the pandemic struck.His abstract work, entitled Computer Love and described as acrylic, latex and diamond dust on canvas, went to an ano...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A jewelry company in Canada claims it's offering "price transparency" by allowing customers to choose how much they pay for an engagement ring. Lovelri says rival brands have profit margins of over 50 per cent. It offers consumers three prices on each ring - which will, it says, mean a profit for the company of C$50, C$100 or C$150.The Toronto-based retailer brands itself...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway surged to $5 billion in the second quarter as the US economy recovered.The division - which includes jewelry chains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler - saw sales increase 48% compared to the same period of 2020, when stores were shuttered due to Covid-19, the company reported last week. Pretax ear...Read More