(IDEX Online) - The cost of crime against jewelers in the US almost doubled in 2019.But the actual number of thefts, burglaries and robberies was virtually unchanged at 1,438, indicating a steep rise in the value of goods taken in each crime.The total cost last year was ?, ?101m, up 89 per cent, according to the Jewelers Security Alliance's (JSA) Annual Crime Report.The average loss from soph...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Divers who scan the shallow sea floor off South Africa's western coast for diamonds claim an industrial mining operation is muddying their waters and causing long-term damage.They've complained to environmental inspectors about a series of coffer dams - temporary sea walls built by diamond mining companies so they can pump out water and sift the gravel for gems.The countr...Read More
Jewelers upbeat about holiday season amid strong e-commerce and lucrative early gift shopping. Last-minute US orders and preparations for Chinese New Year driving polished trading. China jewelry market robust. Luxury demand good at NY auctions: Christie's sells $45M (91% by lot) including Kashmir sapphire and diamond bracelet to Harry Winston for $6M. Sotheby's raises $47M, with heart-shape, 1.71...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's diamond sales rose in November to their highest level since January as customers continued to replenish their rough inventories ahead of the holidays.Revenue from rough and polished goods jumped 36% year on year to $390.5 million, the Russian miner reported Thursday. Rough sales increased 33% to $374.1 million, while sales of polished almost tripled to $16.4 million, from...Read More
RAPAPORT... Australian jeweler Michael Hill predicted a rise in profit for the current half year after reporting growth in same-store sales.Sales at branches open for at least 12 months increased 8% year on year in the 22 weeks ending November 29, even as total revenue slipped 1.3% to AUD 224.9 million ($168.2 million), the Queensland-based retailer said Wednesday. The group expects earnings...Read More
Adapted with permission from Only Natural Diamonds, by the Natural Diamond Council(IDEX Online) - More than four out of five diamond cutters at a center in Windhoek, Namibia, are disabled.Andr?? (C) Messika, a supplier of polished diamonds to the luxury jewelry market, employs 43 diamond cutters, 28 of whom are hearing impaired and eight polishers who are wheelchair users.Marc Friedman, operations...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's sales of rough and polished were $390.5m in November, up more than a third on the same month last year.The Russian miner said demand for rough had remained strong ahead of the holiday season, especially in the USA and China.It rolled its October and November trading sessions into one as part of a "rhythmical" offering of goods, saying sales were no longer inextricably...Read More
RAPAPORT... The diamond and jewelry industry has made important strides in its responsible sourcing practices, but it cannot become complacent, a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found. Besides, Covid-19 has brought new challenges that affect all levels of the distribution chain.In episode 37 of the Rapaport Diamond Podcast, Juliane Kippenberg, associate director of the Children's Ri...Read More
RAPAPORT... Losses from crime against the US jewelry industry soared 89% to $101 million in 2019, reflecting a splattering of high-value burglaries perpetrated by gangs.Burglary losses more than tripled to $40.5 million, from $11.6 million in 2018, the Jewelers' Security Alliance (JSA) said Tuesday in its annual crime report. The total number of criminal events declined 0.2% to 1,438."After m...Read More
RAPAPORT... The American Gem Society (AGS) has rescheduled its next annual Conclave, which was due to take place in April 2021.The Las Vegas-based organization is planning to hold the event in the fall, and is working to select the dates and a location, it said Tuesday. The 2021 Conclave was scheduled to run from April 26 to 28 at the Omni Louisville Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, after th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Christie's sold a Kashmir sapphire and diamond bracelet to Harry Winston for $6 million on Tuesday, kicking off the December New York Magnificent Jewels season.The piece, which led the auction house's New York sale, featured a 43.10-carat sapphire surrounded by 67.90 carats of D-color, internally flawless diamonds. The final price fell within the estimate of $5 million to $7 milli...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The American Gem Society (AGS) has postponed its 2021 Conclave, an annual education, social and networking event for jewelry traders, after cancelling the 2020 event.It now hopes to host a Conclave in the fall, instead of the event that had been planned for 26-28 April 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.The AGS has been holding Conclaves at venues around the USA since 1937."This was...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The lab-grown company that boasts Leonardo di Caprio among its high-profile investors has opened a sales and distribution hub in Dubai.Diamond Foundry, was launched as a startup in 2012 by entrepreneurs Martin Roscheisen and Jeremy Scholz in San Francisco, with backing from 10 billionaires, as well as the American actor, producer and environmentalist. It uses solar technology to cr...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Angola's alluvial Lulo project has delivered yet another +100-carat diamond, its 16th since commercial operations began there five years ago.The 127-carat gem-quality white stone is the first to be recovered from the leziria - flood plain - in a particular mining block within the 3,000km2 concession in the country's Lunda Norte diamond heartland, said Au...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Indian farmer unearthed a "pebble" that turned out to be 14.98 carat diamond - that has now been sold at auction for over $80,000. Lakhan Yadav, 45, was prospecting last month on a rented patch of land in an area of the central Madhya Pradesh state known for its diamond deposits. He bought a motorbike with the pre-auction deposit he received from the local diamond...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gem and jewelry exports rebounded last month, approaching pre-Covid levels for the first time since the pandemic hit.Manufacturing is almost back to normal and after a series of voluntary embargoes, rough imports rose in October by almost 70 per cent.Foreign sales for November were within four per cent of the same month in 2019, signaling a sharp upturn in demand. ...Read More
RAPAPORT... The December edition of the Rapaport Research Report, published on Monday, presents an in-depth analysis of how Covid-19 has impacted Botswana's diamond industry and, by extension, its economy. As the poster child for the diamonds-do-good story, Botswana has been particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. Its heavy reliance on the diamond sector means its economy gains when the marke...Read More
RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Mines has reached a deal to sell its Ekati mine in Canada to two of its bondholders amid mounting debt that caused it to seek creditor protection.DDJ Capital Management and Brigade Capital Management will acquire nearly all of Dominion's assets, with the exception of its 40% stake in the Diavik mine, which it shares with joint-venture partner Rio Tinto, Dominion said M...Read More
RAPAPORT... Bonhams sold a Kashmir sapphire and diamond brooch for $1.1 million at its New York Jewels auction, bringing in more than double its low valuation and surpassing its high estimate.The cushion-shaped mixed-cut, 17.21-carat sapphire, flanked by marquise- and pear-shaped table-cut diamonds, was created in 1910. It led the December 7 sale, which achieved a total of $3.8 million, Bonhams sa...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's international trade in gems and jewelry improved in November as the government and the industry pulled together to weather this year's unprecedented crisis, according to the country's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).The decline in the country's exports narrowed to 4%, for a total of $2.48 billion, compared with $2.58 billion in November 2019, the organ...Read More