(IDEX Online) - Diamonds Do Good (DDG), the non-profit that highlights the industry's positive impact, is to honor De Beers Group, Rosy Blue, Val?? (C)rie Messika, and Lorraine West.They will receive awards at its annual gala, on the eve of JCK Las Vegas in June.The Good Award, DDG's highest accolade, goes to De Beers in recognition of its "commitment to create lasting positive imp...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Burgundy today said it was ditching plans to buy Australia's mothballed Ellendale deposit, a move that would have revived the country's dormant diamond mining industry.The move follows its announcement last week that it was going ahead with $136m deal to buy the Ekati mine, in Canada. Both Ellendale (pictured) and Ekati are sources of high-value yellow diamonds.Burg...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Interpol has lifted the red notice imposed in 2018 preventing fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi from traveling freely.The 195-nation group that facilitates cooperation between police forces says there's a risk he won't receive a fair trial if he is returned to India.Choksi, 63, together with his nephew Nirav Modi, 53, is wanted by authorities in his native India over the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Burgundy's $136m deal to buy the Ekati diamond mine, in Canada, is likely to extend its life "significantly", says Kim Truter, the company's CEO.The purchase, announced last week, from Arctic Canadian, should be concluded next month, pending financing and shareholders' approval."The real advantage is it's a tier-one asset in a tier-one country," Truter told CBC...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A ruby and diamond bracelet made by Van Cleef and Arpels for screen icon Marlene Dietrich is to sold by Christie's New York with an estimate of $2.5m to $4.5m.She bought the high glamor piece in 1937 and wore it in Alfred Hitchcock's 1950 movie Stage Fright and to the Academy Awards ceremony a year later.It will be auctioned as part of collection owned by philanthropist a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Brave jewelers Malcolm Abelson, 78, and his wife Elise, 73, saw off a raider armed with a hammer who tried to steal merchandise from their store in Manchester, England.The couple were unhurt after grappling the man, who fled empty-handed.He claimed he was interested in a necklace and three diamond bracelets for his girlfriend but snatched them from Ms Abelson and tried to run off.&...Read More
(IDEX Online) - US jewelry sales enjoyed a "spike" during February, driven in part by Valentine's Day, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, along with other gifting sectors.But it didn't provide an actual percentage increase, as it generally does.It did, however, say that apparel and department store sales - also classed as gifting sectors - saw growth of 3.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Luxury French jeweler Boucheron is using Aerogel - the lightest substance on Earth - in place of a center stone in its Goutte du Ciel (a drop of sky) necklace.The substance is 98.8 per cent air (and 0.2 per cent silica) and has been used by NASA top insulate its Mars Rover Unit. It is a synthetic material, in which gas replaces the liquid, and ounce for ounce it is more expen...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rolex is to open three temporary factories by 2025 to cope with unprecedented demand for its luxury watches.The company, privately owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, currently produces just over 1m watches a year, but demand always outstrips supply. Last November it announced plans to build a new $1.1bn production site at Bulle, about 60 miles from its Geneva base, which w...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pharrell Williams, the US singer/songwriter best known for "Happy" tomorrow (17 March) launches a high jewelry sale on his digital-first auction house.A Journey Through Gems will feature a 50-carat D Flawless Type IIa heart-shaped loose diamond and a pair of 18k white gold 4-panel diamond shape earrings with natural purple sapphire, as worn by Taylor Swift at the 2023 Grammy Awards...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds yesterday reported sales of $72.1m at its fourth tender of FY2023, down 49 per cent year-on-year but up 71 per cent on its third tender, in December.Like-for-like prices - excluding revenue from single and exceptional stones while normalizing for the product mix impact - were up 12.5 per cent on Tender 3.That reflects a post-Covid recovery in China, boosted by t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The New York-based GCAL (Gem Certification and Assurance Lab) grading lab says its 8X Cut Grades certificates - with the added attributes of brilliance, fire, scintillation, and optical symmetry analysis - can now be customized for clients.Their brand and logo can be added to the certificates, which were launched in 2021 to provide consumers with "a higher level of transparency" fo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A regular visitor to the "sift your own diamond" park in Arkansas, USA, unearthed a a 3.29-carat brown gem, the biggest find there in 18 months.David Anderson is no stranger at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, where day-trippers pay $10 to sift soil at the disused mine for gems, and get to keep whatever they find.He says he's found more than 400 diamonds o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Ekati, Canada's first diamond mine, is to be sold to Burgundy Diamond Mines in the latest ownership twist. Current owner Arctic Canadian Diamond Company (ACDC) announced yesterday that it was selling the deposit, 200 km south of the Arctic Circle, for $136m.ACDC acquired the mine from Dominion Diamonds in February 2021 after it filed for insolvency, and had been planning...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dubai's diamond trade with Israel increased by more than two-and-a-half times in 2022, up from $665.5m in 2021 to $1.75bn."These numbers highlight the blossoming and deepening relationship between the two countries and the diamond industry," said the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC), home to the Dubai Diamond Exchange.Israeli diamond companies have been operating in the c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Owners of a family-run jewelry store watched in horror on a smartphone app as raiders emptied display cabinets of goods valued at $1.2m.The break-in at Queens Jewelers was the latest in a string of burglaries at WestGate Mall, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.Four raiders escaped with Cartier and Rolex watches, 35 diamond necklaces, more than 50 diamond bracelets, and men's...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Former billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi can't afford the legal bill for his failed appeal against extradition.He appeared via videolink at a court in London last week over non-payment of $180,000 for his legal representation.Last November, Modi, 51, (pictured) lost his last-ditch appeal against extradition to India, where he is accused of fraudulently using letters of undert...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Belgium's imports of Russian diamonds in January rose by 36 per cent year-on-year, according to the government-run Belgian Foreign Trade Agency (BFTA).Rough imports were ???EUR? ?132m ($141m) in January 2023, compared with ???EUR? ?97m ($104m) in January 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.The US imposed sanctions on Russian diamonds but the 27 EU nations did not, and Bel...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dubai is to host its first LGD Symposium in a bid to drive the sector's long-term success.Global leaders in the lab-grown and technology space, including industry, retailers, financial institutions, governmental stakeholders, growers and manufacturers will converge on 10 July.Organizers DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) says it is a "critical moment to address unique chall...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A student has been charged over a $500,000 credit card scam at the jewelry store where she worked in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.Police allege Ariel Foster, 19, spent over $35,000 on a Tesla car, almost $6,000 with Delta Airlines, more than $20,000 on an hotel in Maui, Hawaii, and almost $5,000 in Louis Vuitton purchases.Their investigation found items scanned at the register ha...Read More