(IDEX Online) - India's only industrial diamond has resumed operations, days after work was halted because of environmental concerns.Mining at the Majhgawan mine (pictured), near the town of Panna, in Madhya Pradesh, has been stopped several times over the last 50 years because of concerns by the National Wildlife Board.The mine, estimated to have reserves of 34m carats, is close to the Panna...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds received a New Year's surprise, retrieving a 146.9-carat rough diamond from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho.The miner found the high-quality, type II diamond on January 7, it said last week. The stone is the first 100-carat-plus diamond the company has found this year. The discovery also comes a month earlier than 2020's first recovery of a stone in that size category, which...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tech firm Sarine says its digital tender solutions, already adopted by Alrosa and Lucara, are now being used by Stargems as well.The coronavirus pandemic has proved to be a catalyst to rough sellers trading with remote buyers.Israel-based Sarine says Stargems is now using its systems to map external internal features and help determine the true value of the polished diamonds that c...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at Hong Kong-based jeweler Chow Tai Fook grew 17.5% year on year in the last three months of 2020 as a recovery in mainland China outweighed weakness in its home territory."In light of the easing Covid-19 situation in mainland China, business there sustained an encouraging improvement," the company said in a trading update on Monday. "Challenging macros, the pandemic develop...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has sold $5.6 million worth of rough to manufacturer Safdico via a partnership the two companies formed last year.The Graff subsidiary bought 4,676 carats of diamonds from the Mothae deposit in Lesotho at Lucapa's first sale of goods from the site this year, the miner reported Monday. The sale achieved an average price of $1,198 per carat, the highest Lucapa has...Read More
(IDEX Online) - South Africa's state-owned diamond company is under investigation in an inquiry into systemic political corruption.It focuses on alleged links between Alexkor and members of the super-wealthy Gupta family, who were close to former president Jacob Zuma, now live in Dubai, and who have been described by the US Treasury as "members of a significant corruption network".One of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A retired businessman who sued his children for the return of 122 gold bars has lost his case.Soemarto Sulistio, 87, a timber logging millionaire from Hong Kong, bought the 1kg bars jointly with his wife Soemiati in 1989.Their relationship broke down in 2012 and he transferred full ownership to her in 2016, a court heard.She died a year later and he discovered she'd left them...Read More
RAPAPORT... What a difference a year makes. The modus operandi of the diamond and jewelry trade was vastly different at the end of 2020 than at the start. That's a good thing, as the changes had been brewing for some time but had lacked momentum pre-coronavirus. Such developments as the digitization of business, the emphasis on corporate social responsibility, telling the "diamonds do good" s...Read More
RAPAPORT... The UK's departure from the European Union has altered the way British diamond businesses trade with important centers such as Antwerp, as well as with markets around the world. The impact stretches from new Kimberley Process procedures to updated rules on value-added tax (VAT).These changes went into effect when the UK left the EU customs union and single market on December 31, 2...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A son of the LVMH billionaire Bernard Arnault will reportedly take a key management role at Tiffany & Co.Alexandre Arnault, aged 28, is currently CEO of the German luxury suitcase brand Rimowa, which is part of the LVMH empire. Two brothers and a sister also run LVMH companies.His appointment, and that of Anthony Ledru, a top Louis Vuitton executive to another top position at T...Read More
Diamond trade ends challenging 2020 with 1 ct. RAPI +5.8%. Firm polished prices reflect inventory decline after significant drop in manufacturing and rough sales. Optimism for 1Q as jewelers and dealers seek goods following the holiday season. Retail outlook still cautious amid spike in global Covid-19 infections. Lockdowns may curb jewelers' inventory replacement efforts. Rising expectations for...Read More
RAPAPORT... LVMH has shaken up Tiffany & Co.'s senior management after the French luxury group finally completed its acquisition of the iconic US jewelry brand.Anthony Ledru, previously executive vice president for global commercial activities at Louis Vuitton, will succeed Alessandro Bogliolo immediately as Tiffany's CEO, LVMH said Thursday. Ledru is returning to Tiffany, where he was se...Read More
RAPAPORT... E-commerce spending in the US grew to a record high during the holiday season, with jewelry boasting a strong performance, according to Adobe Analytics.Revenues for the category rose 66% in November and December compared to the same period of 2019, Adobe said Wednesday. Total online spending soared 32% to $188.2 billion. That figure was just shy of the 33% increase to $189 billion Adob...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The luxury Japanese jeweler Mikimoto has been singled out for criticism by the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch. It claims the company, best known for its cultured pearls, put up a "wall of silence" when asked how it avoided abuses in the gold and diamond supply chains. Fourteen other well-known jewelry brands in the US, Europe, and Asia were more forthcoming and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A new smartphone app can count a collection of the tiniest gems almost instantly.The diamond and jewelry wholesaler Terra Cor, based in New York, is branching into tech and has launched image-based gem counting software that can count sizes down to .005 ct. (-2) stones. It uses a neural network - a series of algorithms - to count the gems in a high-quality photograph and sends...Read More
RAPAPORT... Walter William Hanneman, a gemologist, author and instrument maker, died on December 12 at the age of 93, his family announced this week.Born in 1927 in Oak Park, Illinois, he entered the world of gems and minerals thanks to his father, Walter Mooney Hanneman, an avid lapidarist. The young Hanneman taught the subject to himself, later claiming to be the "world's foremost self-orda...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue at Titan Company increased in the third fiscal quarter as consumers purchased wedding jewelry for events that had been deferred.Jewelry sales rose nearly 15% year on year for the three months ending December 31 amid positive consumer sentiment. Shoppers also displayed an eagerness to get out after six months of being restricted to their homes, the company reported Wednesday. "C...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at Tiffany & Co. rose 2% during the holiday season as the US jeweler benefited from sharp growth in China and a surge in online demand.Revenue in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 20% year on year in November and December, outweighing a 5% decline in the Americas, the company reported Tuesday in a trading update. Global sales on a comparable basis - at stores open for at le...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Year-on-year diamond prices for December 2020 were exactly in line with those of the same month in 2019 - no change at all. They were badly hit by the pandemic in March and April, when they were 4.8 per cent down, but have rising more or less steadily ever since and have now reached pre-Covid levels. The Index is now at the x-axis, with every likelihood that it will brea...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. will offer a necklace featuring an 80-carat diamond, expected to be its most expensive piece ever, at the reopening of its New York Fifth Avenue flagship store next year.The oval-cut, D-color, internally flawless stone, which the jeweler sourced from Botswana and will set in-house in New York, is at the center of the piece, Tiffany said Tuesday. It is also the largest...Read More