Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) and its joint venture partner in Zimbabwe Vast Resource (LON:VAST), are stepping up exploration activity at their concession in the African nation's Marange Fields area.The decision comes after the companies received Wednesday a preliminary geological assessment of the property, which shows Heritage contains several targets for modern alluvial diamond placer deposits.It...Read More
RAPAPORT... You don't have to be in China to sell to Chinese people.That's the message from luxury marketing experts, who point out that tourists,students and immigrants from the world's largest fine-jewelry consumer have ahuge impact on the retail sector in Western countries. "The joke in the high-end luxury-goods community is that ifyou want to start a new luxury brand, the place to put it is wh...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports fell in September,according to data from the nation's Gem & Jewellery Export PromotionCouncil (GJEPC).Polished exports decreased 11% year on year to $2.37 billionand, by volume, fell 29% to 2.78 billion carats. The average price rose 26% to$851 per carat. Polished imports dropped 7% year on year to $163 million,while net polished exports - the...Read More
RAPAPORT... Manufacturers were concerned about profitability at last week's De Beerssight, and expressed hope their new supply agreement with the miner would easethe situation.De Beers had proceeds of $475 million during the October sales cycle amid weakdemand for smaller rough diamonds, the company reported Tuesday. Sightholders described lastweek's sight as difficult, as they felt compelled...Read More
Aim-listed Vast Resources, together with Botswana Diamonds (BOD), have received an independent competent person’s preliminary geological assessment relating to the Heritage concession within the Marange diamond fields of Zimbabwe, in which specific exploration recommendations were made.As announced on October 4, BOD has entered an agreement with Vast under which BOD will be engaged in d...Read More
A group of scientists has discovered one of the rarest minerals on Earth buried deep within what may be the largest-known meteorite impact crater in Australia.The ultra-rare mineral known as reidite was found by Curtin University researchers in the long buried Woodleigh Crater near Shark Bay, Western Australia, about 750 km. north of Perth.Reidite only forms in rocks that experience the incredible...Read More
RAPAPORT... Bonhams has appointed Brett O'Connor as senior internationaljewelry director and senior vice president of its US operations, the auction house saidTuesday. O'Connor makes the move after 16 years at Sotheby's Geneva,where he was one of the lead auctioneers for the company's major jewelry salesin Geneva, Hong Kong, London and New York. He was also responsible for globalsourcing of j...Read More
RAPAPORT... Recovery of lower-grade ore at Rio Tinto's Argyle and Diavikmines led to a 17% drop in production in the third quarter.Output came to 4.9 million carats for the three monthsending September 30, the company said Tuesday. The Argyle asset in Australiayielded 3.8 million carats, plummeting 19% over the same period last year. Lastyear, Rio Tinto's production was enhanced by the proces...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The 2018 CIBJO Congress opened yesterday (Monday) in the Colombian capital of Bogot??, with a strong focus on responsible sourcing in the jewelry industry. This included the introduction of a Responsible Sourcing Guidance document, which will serve as a reference for responsible sourcing practices developed and applied by industry organizations and commercial bodies worldwi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers sold rough diamonds with a provisional value of $475 million in the eighth sales cycle (Global Sightholder Sales and Auction Sales) of 2018. The sales figure is the lowest sales figure reported by the miner so far this year which have all been above the $500 million mark. The miner reported confirmed sales of $503 million in the seventh cycle, compared with a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto reported that production was 19% lower on the year in the third quarter at its Argyle mine in Australia. &nbs...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's Private Sales will present A Diamond Affair from October 29-31, showcasing an array of exceptional diamond jewels and unmounted gems. The items range from a 100-carat diamond tiara to a rare blue diamond, the auctioneer said. The jewels will be displayed alongside original artwork by John McLusky, a leading graphic artist who serialized Ian Fleming's James...Read More
Diamond miner De Beers Group on Tuesday announced that it had sold $475-million worth of rough diamonds during the eighth sales cycle of this year.This is lower than the $503-million worth of diamonds sold in the seventh cycle of the year, but higher than the $376-million worth of diamonds sold in the eighth cycle of 2017.AdvertisementThe sales are based on global sightholder sales and auction sa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has unearthed a 357-carat diamond at its Let??engmine in Lesotho, it said in a Twitter post Monday. The light-brown stone, which the miner said is of "highquality," is the 13th rough diamond over 100 carats the company has found thisyear. It's the second-largest it has recovered in 2018, after the 910-caratLesotho Legend it found in January. That stone - which the co...Read More
RAPAPORT... Countries should designate locations where colored gemstonesenter the market in a bid to ensure the integrity of the industry's supplychain, according to World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) president GaetanoCavalieri. Cavalieri called for the introduction of monitored"chokepoints" - places at which goods pass during shipping. The system wouldbenefit governments by creating legal...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Uchihara Group will open a store in Ginza, Japan, and launch a new brand of jewelry at more affordable pricesthan its signature SA Birth collection. The new line - SA Birth Ginza -is a reinvented version of the original brand, which is sourced from southernAfrican countries, including Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho, the companysaid Monday. Uchihara will launch the label when i...Read More
RAPNET PRESS RELEASE, October 15, 2018, Las Vegas... RapNet, theworld's leading diamond trading network, is proud to announce the launch of theRapNet Trade Center. This marks a major strategic development for RapNet by providing memberswith an efficient, secure and intuitive system to trade diamonds in a smartertrading environment. TheRapNet Trade Center offers members a suite of tools to manage...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shares in Pandora spiked late last week followingspeculation the company had hired an adviser to negotiate a possible buyout. The jeweler has called on Rothschildfor guidance on how to handle potential buyers, according to a Danish-languagereport on news site Inside Business. Its stock price rose 7% on Thursday and afurther 9% Friday. "As a general principle, we do not comment on...Read More
RAPAPORT... Countries should designate locations where colored gemstonesenter the market in a bid to ensure the integrity of the industry's supplychain, according to the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO). CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri called for the introduction of monitored"chokepoints" - places at which goods pass during shipping. The system wouldbenefit governments by creating lega...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Uchihara Group will open a store in Ginza, Japan, and launch a new brand of jewelry at more affordable pricesthan its signature SA Birth collection. The new line - SA Birth Ginza -is a reinvented version of the original brand, which is sourced from southernAfrican countries, including Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho, the companysaid Monday. Uchihara will launch the label when i...Read More