(IDEX Online) - A British gin company is giving away diamonds to customers who buy a bottle with a lucky cork.Whitley Neill says it wants to "reignite the age-old tradition of handing down heirlooms".It's doing so by presenting winners with what it describes as "lab-created round cut diamond of D, E, F or G clarity with a minimum carat size of 0.4 mm".The 15 prizes have a combined value of $3...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Three diamond workers have taken their own lives in Surat within a week because of the industry slowdown, according to news reports.The Indian Express says the most recent was Paresh Mahadik, 40, a diamond polisher for 15 years who lost his job two months ago.Another diamond polisher, Veenu Moradiya, 53, and his family - wife Shardaben, 50, and children Krish, 20, and Senita, 15 -...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lightbox, the De Beers lab grown division, is expanding into the bridal market, with a range of 16 engagement rings.It's a significant step for a company that launched in May 2018, saying it would supply "high-quality, fashion jewelry" for "less serious occasions".Lightbox has clearly changed direction and has launched its first range of engagement rings with the tag line "Bec...Read More
(IDEX Online) - More than 18,000 visitors and 12,000 exhibitor and sponsors attended JCK Vegas earlier this month, say organizers. The visitor figures were up eight per cent on 2022, the first post-Covid show, which surpassed pre-pandemic levels. More than 1,900 companies exhibited at the The Venetian and The Venetian Expo for the four-day event which describes itself as "the most important jewel...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India suffered yet another decline in gross exports of polished diamonds in May, but it was less severe than in recent months.Foreign sales amounted to $1.72bn, down 17.5 per cent on the previous month, according to new figures from GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council).In April the year-on-year dollar decline was 38.9 per cent, and in March it was 33 per cent. The dec...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamonds says it has discovered additional kimberlite at the Gahcho Kue mine, in Canada's Northwest Territories.The Toronto-based miner says a kimberlite exposure was identified during routine mining operations in 2021. Drilling programs the following year indicated a significant volume of previously unknown kimberlite could exist.Ten of 11 drillholes this ye...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A diamond worker has been arrested in Surat, India, after he allegedly spiked his colleagues' tea with a sedative and fled with stones valued at $14,000.Police in the Katargam district of the city say the suspect made tea at 4am during a night shift for eight co-workers. Those who were unwilling to drink were forced to do so.He fled the workshop with 2,700 diamonds, with a tot...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa is to build a new $1.5bn mine at Mir, following the 2017 flooding disaster that claimed eight lives.Work will start later this year and the first industrial production is expected in 2030-31, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.Aisen Nikolaev, head of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, where Alrosa is headquartered, has appraised Russian President Vladimir Putin of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A starfish brooch designed by Salvador Dali and featuring cultured pearl of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds sold for $982,000.It was the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of jewelry by the Spanish surrealist artist.The Etoile de Mer belonged to socialite Rebekah Harkness, who is referenced in Taylor Swift's 2020 song The Last Great American Dynasty.Swift paid $17m...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The cost of crime to US jewelers almost doubled last year, says the Jewelers' Security Alliance (JSA).Losses soared to a record high of $129.4m up 84.6 per cent on$70.1m in 2021, according to its 2022 Annual Crime Report.Almost one in five the burglaries recorded were Three Minute Burglaries, so named because that's the time it takes to smash a door or window at night, em...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The sale of Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine, to Australia-based Burgundy is due to be completed by 30 June.It will be the second time the mine has changed hands in under two-and-a-half years. Arctic Canadian Diamond Company acquired the deposit, 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle, in February 2021 after the previous owners, Dominion Diamonds, filed for insolvency.&nb...Read More
(IDEX Online) - BlueRock Diamonds, the British miner that operates the Kareevlei mine, in Kimberley, South Africa, has gone into administration.Operations at the mine remain have been halted. Share trading was halted in February, when its debt-ridden subsidiary Kareevlei Mining. which operates the mine, was placed in business rescue, with little prospect that it would continue as a going concern.L...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An ultra-rare 10.57-carat Eternal Pink came within a whisker of its $35m estimate at Sotheby's New York. It sold for $34.8m. The auction house said the cushion mixed cut diamond - certified as fancy vivid purplish pink and internally flawless - carried the highest price per carat estimate ever placed on any diamond or gemstone ($3,311,258). But the per carat reco...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet has trimmed its full-year outlook by around seven per cent and announced plans to close around 150 of its 2,800 outlets as the "engagement gap" kicks in.The parent company of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, Diamonds Direct, JamesAllen.com, Rocksbox and others has revised down total sales forecasts from $7.67bn-$7.84bn to $7.1bn-$7.3bn."We expected the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Chow Tai Fook, the Chinese jeweler with over 7,000 outlets, reported a drop in annual revenue and profit, but said it had still delivered a "resilient performance", in the face of "challenging macroeconomic externalities".The company said in its annual results that it was encouraged by the "gradual resumption of business in our key markets" after the end of zero-tolerance Covid loc...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Light of Peace, a 126.76-carat D-color, internally flawless diamond, sold for $13.6m at Christie's New York.It led the Magnificent Jewels auction (on Wednesday 7 June) which realized a total of $50.7m.The Light of Peace (pictured) was offered without reserve, with an estimate of $10m to $15m.The Type IIa, pear brilliant-cut diamond started life as a 434.6-carat rough...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The world's largest gem quality ruby, the 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura, has sold for a record $34.8m at Sotheby's New York. The highest price paid previously for a ruby was $30.3m, for the 25.59-ct cushion-cut Sunrise Ruby, a Burmese gemstone which sold at Sotheby's Geneva in May 2015. Sotheby's said before last Wednesday's Magnificent Jewels a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Selfridges is selling lab growns at its flagship Oxford Street department store, in London, in a high-profile endorsement for the sector.The Diamond Lab, a UK lab grown jewelry brand has a pop-up concession for a month at the Wonder Room, Selfridges' watch and jewelry hub.Vrai, the e-commerce division of US-based Diamond Foundry, already sells via the Selfridges website, but d...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Eight major diamond manufacturers have joined forces with the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) to promote the industry and educate consumers.Shree Ramkrishna Exports (SRK), Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (HK), Rosy Blue, Venus Jewel, Diarough, Dianco, Jewelex and Shivam Jewels have all agreed strategic partnerships.Diamond broker Bonas Group, the largest global independent diamon...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Brilliant Earth, the US-based "ethical jeweler", is partnering with Tracr, the traceability platform developed by De Beers.It's following in the footsteps of grading labs GIA, which announced a cooperation in April, and GSI, which did likewise last month to strengthen consumer confidence in natural diamonds.Tracr, first launched in 2018, uses blockchain technology to track the...Read More