Evgeny Agureev, director of the United Selling Organization of Alrosa, the world's leading rough diamond producer, told the Indian Express that it had "initiated a rupee-rouble payment mechanism with its Indian clients" and already had run a payment pilot with a handful of its Indian clients. The newspaper also wrote that "Alrosa is increasing its marketing spend in India as it attempts to ca...Read More
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the umbrella organization of the Antwerp diamond industry, published its second sustainability report. The report, the AWDC says, is an "integrated report that does not shy away from thorny issues such as 'reputation,' 'integrity in the diamond value chain' and 'compliance in the diamond industry.' Furthermore, with this report...Read More
RAPAPORT... Output at Firestone Diamonds slipped in the third fiscal quarteras the company processed ore from a lower-grade portion of the mine. Production dropped 19% to 155,206 carats at the company'sLiqhobong mine in Lesotho in the three months ending March 31. Throughout the rainyseason, Firestone mines the northern portion of the pit, which containslower-grade ore. "During the final qua...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mineral inclusions in rare diamonds have provided clues towhen their continents of origin were formed, according to research by the GemologicalInstitute of America (GIA). The researchers studied sulphide inclusions in type Ibyellow diamonds originating from the Zimmi mining area near the Liberia-SierraLeone border. Those stones have rare nitrogen impurities, and comprise less than...Read More
RAPAPORT... US consumers are expected to spend 13% more on jewelry thisMother's Day, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said last week. Americans will shell out $5.2 billion on the category this year,compared with $4.6 billion in 2018, according to the trade organization'sannual survey. The dollar increase for jewelry sales represents 31% of the total expected growth inMother's Day sales over la...Read More
STOCKHOLM – The opaque diamond trade may be ripe for disruption.Lucara Diamond, which recently found the second-largest diamond in history in Botswana, is taking on industry giants such as De Beers and Alrosa PJSC with an online platform to replace the current physical auctions.AdvertisementThe service allows Lucara to match buyers’ requirements, not only saving jewelers the trouble of...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mineral inclusions in rare diamonds have provided clues towhen their continents of origin were formed, according to research by the GemologicalInstitute of America (GIA). The researchers studied sulphide inclusions in type Ibyellow diamonds originating from the Zimmi mining area near the Liberia-SierraLeone border. Those stones have rare nitrogen impurities, and comprise less than...Read More
Diamond miner Alrosa on Monday said the revenue from the sale of special size diamonds at an auction in Vladivostok, exceeded $9.65-million.The auction took place from April 8 to 19, with 105 diamonds with a combined weight of 2 481.9 ct put on offer and 2 030.32 ct sold.AdvertisementOwing to the “decent results” from the auction, Alrosa executive committee member Evgeny Agur...Read More
RAPAPORT... Output at Firestone Diamonds slipped in the third fiscal quarteras the company processed ore from a lower-grade portion of the mine. Production dropped 19% to 155,206 carats at the company'sLiqhobong mine in Lesotho in the three months ending March 31. Throughout the rainyseason, Firestone mines the northern portion of the pit, which containslower-grade ore. "During the final qua...Read More
The opaque diamond trade may be ripe for disruption.Lucara Diamond, which recently found the second-largest diamond in history in Botswana, is taking on industry giants such as De Beers and Alrosa PJSC with an online platform to replace the current physical auctions.The service allows Lucara to match buyers' requirements, not only saving jewelers the trouble of traveling to Botswana but also endin...Read More
RAPAPORT... Belgium saw a decline in its imports and exports of rough diamondsin the first quarter, as mining companies' sales dropped.Shipments into thecountry slid 33% to $2.09 billion for the period, reflecting a 38% slump inrough sales at Alrosa, for which Belgium is the biggest market. De Beers'revenues also fell 19% at its first two sales cycles of 2019, which tookplace during the quart...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) has unveiled theMaendeleo Diamond Standards (MDS), a program that helps artisanal miners receive certification showing their diamonds are conflict-free. The system, named after the Swahili word for development,was created together with various stakeholders. Those include government entities,local civil-society organizations, and artisanal and sm...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers is broadening a pilot project aimed at creating a secure and transparent route to market for artisanally mined diamonds with ethical sourcing. The miner introduced GemFair in April 2018 in Sierra Leone, whereit worked with 16 mine sites to improve ethical standards and workingconditions for miners, while enabling them to sell roughthrough De Beers' main distribution channel....Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers' sales volume fell 15% to 7.5 million carats in thefirst quarter, as overall demand for lower-value rough goods remained soft.Production for the three months ending March 31 dropped 8%to 7.9 million carats due to lower output from the company's South Africanoperations. Total carat recovery in the country plunged 65% to 382,000, with thecompany transitioning its Venetia project...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has recovered the largest diamond unearthed in Botswana. The 1,758-carat stone, from the Karowe mine, has been characterized as near-gem, with its quality varying throughout the diamond, Lucara said last week. Portions of it arehigh-quality white gem, the miner explained. The company extracted the stone in an unbroken state using technology that it commissioned in...Read More
Lucara Diamond Corp. mined a 1,758 carat diamond) at its Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana. One of the largest diamonds in recorded history, the largest diamond recovered in Botswana, and the largest diamond to be mined at Karowe to date, the unbroken 1,758 carat stone was recovered through Lucara's XRT circuit. Weighing close to 352 grams and measuring 83mm x 62mm x 46mm, the diamo...Read More
Alrosa, the world's leading producer of diamonds, told Reuters that the company expects a drop in its sales in 2019 due to weaker demand for polished diamonds from China. "We will not reach last year's sales numbers," Evgeniy Agureev, director of sales for Alrosa, said. In 2018, sales rose 6 percent from the previous year to $4.5 billion but the trend has changed, he said. Aguree...Read More
Women's Wear Daily (WWD), the influential online fashion business, trend and info hub, said that data from Coresight Research had tallied store closures of more than 8,000 in 2017 in the US. In 2018, there were more than 5,500 units that shuttered. And at current levels, store closures this year will exceed last year's numbers, WDD reported. WWD quoted a report from David Bassuk and Joel...Read More
Christie's is to auction the "Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence" collection in New York, June 19th. Speaking about this collection, Rahul Kadakia, Christie's International Head of Jewellery, said that the collection was made up of royal jewels and jeweled objects that date back nearly 500 years to the early part of the Mughal dynasty, which ruled in India from 1526 to 1857. The collect...Read More