(IDEX Online) - British miner BlueRock Diamonds has put its Kareevlei Mining subsidiary into business rescue amid mounting debts.It follows the suspension of its shares on the AIM last week.Kareevlei Mining currently owes $4.1m to Teichmann South Africa, the construction and mining service group, though it said it had paid its February salaries and diesel bill.Business rescue temporarily protects...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sarine has reported a fall in net profits for FY2022, down just over 46 per cent from $16.5m to $8.8m.It also said revenue for the year were down by 5.4 per cent, from $62.1m to $58.8m, down from a high base in H1 2021 due to post-Covid spike in US jewelry spending.Sales to India, its biggest market by far, fell 25 per cent from $40.5m to $30.3m.The Israel-based diamond tech firm b...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rounds suffered yet another month of losses during February, as ongoing uncertainties drove demand for the less expensive fancy cuts. De Beers reported a 30 per cent drop in rough sales at its first cycle of 2023, amid reports that some prices were hiked by as much as 10 per cent. Manufacturing remains well below capacity in India. Consumer demand is still slow, although US in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Debswana yesterday announced details of "the world's first 5G-oriented smart diamond mine project" in conjunction with the Chinese tech corporation Huawei.By connecting over 260 pieces of equipment at the Jwaneng mine, in Botswana, it says it has increased both efficiency and safety.Transferring data in real time makes equipment like mining vehicles more efficient, increasing...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's commerce ministry has approved an investment of almost $30m over the next five years to establish and fund a center for lab grown diamonds.It follows the abolition in last month's budget of a five per cent import levy on the graphite seeds used to create lab grown diamonds.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also pledged to fund five years of research and developm...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The French luxury conglomerate LVMH is reported to be considering a possible takeover of its Swiss rival Richemont, owner of Cartier, the world's second-largest watchmaking brand.Bernard Arnault, LVMH chairman and CEO - and currently the world's richest person - is eyeing the empire founded by South African businessman Johann Rupert in 1988, according to the Swiss newspap...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Police say $500,000 of diamonds were stolen from a car by knife-wielding robbers in Inglewood, California, USA.Video of the incident appears to show a suspect climb through a passenger window and grab a duffel bag.The victim's car was boxed in by one vehicle in front and another behind.Two suspects then drove off in a white car. Police say there were no reported injuries...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Visitor numbers at the Inhorgenta Munich trade show in Germany were up more than a half on the 2022 show, said organizers.The four-day event, which ended today, showcased watches, jewelry and gemstones and attracted 24,000 trade delegates.There were more than 800 companies exhibiting, from 38 countries. The top 10 exhibitor countries, after Germany were: Italy, Belgium, India, Aust...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto is to invest $40m to extend the life of Diavik, Canada's largest mine, on the edge of Arctic Circle.It says that underground mining below the existing A21 open pit operation should yield an additional 1.4m carats and extend the life of the deposit into the first quarter of 2026. It had been scheduled to close in 2025.Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The G7 nations said they would work towards measures against Russian diamonds as they marked the first anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, but gave no specific details. But the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) says it has received information that new restrictions are likely to specifically target all polished diamonds from Russia, regardless of where they are cut and po...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Police are hunting two men who beat and pistol-whipped a 79-year-old female worker in a raid on a New York jewelry store.The victim was taken to hospital, where she was described as being in a stable condition. She was kicked, punched and struck in the head with a handgun.Surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows her on the floor with her hands above her head, trying to defen...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The first fancy yellow diamonds from bulk sampling at Canada's Naujaat mine have been cut and polished by Burgundy, in Australia, as part of a partnership.The high-value gems were recovered by Vancouver-based North Arrow Minerals from kimberlite pipes in Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.Two stones - weighing 0.31 carats and 0.21 carats - were test-polished by Burgun...Read More
(IDEX Online) - British miner BlueRock Diamonds has suspended trading in its shares after the subsidiary that operates its Kareevlei mine, in Kimberley, South Africa, was place in business rescue.In a statement issued on Friday (24 February) it said it had "requested that trading in the company's shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange be suspended due to financial uncertainty r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's mothballed diamond mine at Majhgawan-Panna is due to resume production this July, with a forecast output of up to 84,000 carats a year.Work was halted at the country's only industrial mine at the end of December 2020 when environmental clearances lapsed following concerns from the nearby Panna Tiger Reserve.But the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC),...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa has recovered a 150-carat Type IIa D-color white diamond at its Lulo alluvial mine, in Angola.The Australian miner says it's the 36th +100-carat diamond (pictured) from the mine since it began commercial production in 2015.The recovery, the fifth +100-carat from block 28 of the mine, was made with partners Endiama and Rosas & Petalas.Lucapa, which also operates the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gold, platinum and diamond jewelry belonging to Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond International will be sold by liquidators in Mumbai, India, in an e-auction next month.The fugitive jeweler, aged 51, is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in an alleged $1.85bn fraud.No reserve price has yet been posted by liquidators Santa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Singapore-based IIa Technologies has won a long-running patent battle with Element Six Technologies, a De Beers company.The Court of Appeal in Singapore ruled that Element Six's highly technical patent concerning lab grown diamond production was not sufficiently clear and was therefore unenforceable.It said even a skilled person would not understand whether or not they had inf...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Dutch government today (Wednesday 22 February) said new EU sanctions on Russia could include restrictions on diamond imports.A new package of measures is expected on Friday (24 February) to make the first anniversary of the invasion.A Customs update entitled New sanctions measures against Russia and Belarus (sanctions package 10) says (in translation) that the new package of sa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Plans for a new De Beers diamond mine in Canada's Nunavut territory are to go to a public review.The UK-based miner acquired the Chidliak Project, on the vast and sparsely populated Baffin Island, when it bought Peregrine Diamonds in September 2018 for C$107m.It plans to implement its FutureSmart Mining vision, including the use of drones, airships, remote mining and operation...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers says the long-standing agreement, under which it sells 75 per cent of Botswana's rough diamonds, will survive the current turmoil.A company spokesman told Reuters this week it was "confident that our successful partnership will continue".Two weeks ago the country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi told crowds at a rally of his ruling party that he would walk away from...Read More