RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has appointed Joan Hilson chief financialofficer, as part of an effort to strengthen its leadership team. The former David's Bridal executive - who also managed finances forAmerican Eagle Outfitters and Victoria's Secret - will begin at the company onApril 4. The outgoing chief financial officer, Michele Santana, will continuein her role until then, and will remain with...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales from the Grib diamond mine in Russia showed little change in 2018, coming in at $300 million as prices of smallerstones faltered. "Grib Diamonds rough is concentrated by value in the smaller end, which was under pressure from mid-2018," Antony Dear, head of sales at the mine's marketing unit, Grib Diamonds, told Rapaport News Tuesday. "Our prices reflect this, and were overa...Read More
LSE-listed Gem Diamonds on Wednesday posted a significant surge in earnings as it delivered record diamond recoveries for the year ended December 31, 2018.The diamond miner reported a profit for the year of $46.6-million, compared with the $20.8-million achieved, before exceptional items, in 2017, with attributable profit reaching $26-million during the year under review.AdvertisementUnderlying e...Read More
RAPAPORT... Eurostar Diamond Traders could be forced to file for bankruptcy soon, aftera Belgian court rejected its reorganization plan.The large Antwerp-based manufacturer, which owes anestimated $500 million, is no longer considered a financially viable business after losing its DeBeers sight, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported Saturday.The Antwerp Court of Appeal turned down its request for pro...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales bounced back at the beginning of 2019 after surprisingly slow figures during the December holiday period. Total purchases, excluding automobiles, gasoline andrestaurants, rose 3.6% year on year in January, according to data the NationalRetail Federation (NRF) reported. The three-month average for theNovember-to-January period was up 2.7% versus a year ago. Retail sales...Read More
RAPAPORT... The massive project by the Diamond Producers Association(DPA) and Signet Jewelers to test and review 18 synthetic-diamond detectors hasraised an important question: What should you look for in such a machine? Accuracy is, of course, a major part of the equation(alongside speed, price and usability), but it isn't a clear-cut issue. The firstset of results from the DPA and Signet's Assur...Read More
The luxury sector in the West is worried about the Chinese. The steady flow Chinese tourist to Europe, Japan and other western destinations is drying up and fears are, it will die down to a trickle.The luxury sector's concerns are real. Chinese consumers, Bain & Co. says, generated a third of global luxury sales in 2017 - and mostly outside China's border.It started with the Chinese government...Read More
The Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences (AIGS) plans to boost cooperation in gemological education with Chinese institutions. AIGS Chairman Kennedy Ho met with Shunyu Hou, President of GTC - Guangdong Gemstones & Precious Metals Testing Center, in Guangdong on February 27, and agreed to further collaboration in educational projects and in gemstone testing. "At AIGS, we plan to roll out man...Read More
The Angolan diamond mining company Catoca Ltd Mining Co, a joint venture of the Russian diamond miner ALROSA and Angola's state-run diamond mining company Endiama reported that they have taken significant steps toward improving the quality of Catoca's corporate governance. A number of new entities will be established: The Supervisory and Fiscal Councils will control, approve and finalize contracts...Read More
CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has released a simplified guide to ethical and responsible practices in the handling and trading of diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls and coral, and has made it available for downloading in PDF format from the CIBJO website, in multiple languages, free of charge.The 10-page to 13-page document, depending on the language in which it is downloaded, provid...Read More
Lengthy delays in securing mining permits and licences, onerous and inappropriate regulatory requirements, lack of funding for entrepreneurs, and a Mining Charter and implementation guidelines which are impractical for small operators - these are just some of the problems that confront start-up and existing alluvial diamond miners in the Northern Cape like Amo Marengwa and Lyndon de Meillon.Under...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) hasbegun building a 21-acre industrial jewelry park it believes will generatenearly $6 billion in annual revenue. The India Jewellery Park in Mumbai will cost approximatelyINR 144.67 billion ($2 billion) to construct over the next few years, and willemploy about 100,000 workers when completed. The project will enhancemanufac...Read More
RAPAPORT... MID House of Diamonds was the premier Israelipolished-diamond exporter for the fourth year running, according to a list thenation's Ministry of Economy and Industry published recently.The company, whose exports rose 12% to $196 million in 2018,was one of several in the top 10 that saw an increase. Niru Diamonds took the second spot, moving up from third in2017, with its expor...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry manufacturer Frederick Goldman has purchasedlab-grown-jewelry brand Love Earth to accelerate its entry into the synthetic-diamondbusiness. "The market for lab-grown diamonds is expanding rapidly,"Frederick Goldman CEO Jonathan Goldman said last week. "We have spent the pastyear studying how we would enter this business. Our purchase of the Love Earthbrand has expedited tho...Read More
The South China Morning Post reported that Russian diamond miner had finally succeeded to convince its Chinese customer base to trade in a currency other than US dollars, "as it looks to get around US sanctions." Evgeny Agureev, Alrosa's director of sales, told the Post "on the sidelines of the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show that it has signed up Chow Sang Sang Jewellery on a long-te...Read More
The Civil Society Coalition (CSC), an alliance of international civil society organisations affiliated to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) issued a statement last week, asking the UN and the KP to classify Zimbabwe's gemstones as conflict diamonds in order to prevent their sale in the global market. The Statement came at the conclusion of the United Nations General Assembly�...Read More
The India Jewellery Park of Mumbai, a mega initiative by the Government of India to take India's jewellery manufacturing and trade to a new level, was inaugurated earlier this month. The project will enjoy a total investment of more than $10 billion and once in operation is expected to generate an annual turnover of $30 billion The foundation stone laying ceremony was attended by Suresh Prab...Read More
An investigation resulting from a US bankruptcy court order has suggested that Samuels Jewelers Inc., Mehul Choksi's US-owned company, may have sold lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) to customers with fraudulent grading reports that presented them as natural diamonds. The fraudulent reports were produced by a laboratory controlled through one of Choksi's businesses on the British Virgin Islands, the inves...Read More
RAPAPORT... MID House of Diamonds was the premier Israelipolished-diamond exporter for the fourth year running, according to a list thenation's Ministry of Economy and Industry published recently.The company, whose exports rose 12% to $196 million in 2018,was one of several in the top 10 that saw an increase. Niru Diamonds took the second spot, moving up from third in2017, with its expor...Read More
LSE-listed Petra Diamonds has recovered a 100.83 ct D-colour Type II gem-quality diamond at its Cullinan mine, in South Africa.The large diamond find follows the recent recovery of a 6.12 ct Type II blue stone at the same mine.AdvertisementThe company indicated in a statement last week that these recoveries demonstrated the prevalence of these types of stones in the Cullinan orebody, as well as th...Read More