RAPAPORT... Fancy blue diamonds continued to outshine other major color categoriesin price terms during the second quarter, the Fancy Color Research Foundation(FCRF) said.Prices of fancy blues climbed 6% year on year for the threemonths ending June 30, according to the FCRF, which released its quarterlyFancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) on Monday.By contrast, prices of fancy pink diamonds declined 0...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has ejected two members on suspicion of substituting synthetics stones for natural diamonds. The traders allegedly swapped four D-color, higher-clarity polished diamonds with weights ranging from three to five carats with lab-grown stones, IDE President Yoram Dvash told IDEX Online. One of the two men involved was banned f...Read More
RAPAPORT... Global demand for gold jewelry fell 2% year on year to 510.3tonnes in the second quarter amid a weaker Indian market, the World GoldCouncil (WGC) reported last week. Appetite for gold jewelry in India fell 8% to 147.9 tonnes inthe three months ending June 30 as local prices climbed in response to therupee weakening against the US dollar. In addition, higher spending during thesame peri...Read More
Archaeologists working in the remote Tarbagatai Mountains of northeastern Kazakhstan unearthed 3,000 gold and precious metals objects and jewelry pieces that are presumed to date back almost 800 years before Christ.The treasure, found at the 'Yeleke Sazy' burial site, probably belonged to a noble family of the Saka people who ruled throughout central Asia 2,800 years ago and were a nomadic sub-gro...Read More
Opinion piece by Leonid Bershidsky.The murder of three Russian journalists last week in a remote area of the Central African Republic, the world's poorest country according to the World Bank, has turned a spotlight on what looks like a big Kremlin play for influence and resources in Africa. Where China has spent decades and billions of dollars trying to entrench itself there, Russia is offering it...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Warren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathaway increased 5% to $3.93 billion in the second quarter, thecompany reported Saturday. The improvement in the division, which includes jewelrychains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was boosted inlarge part by the company's automotive sector and the sale of pre-ownedvehicles. Pre-tax earnings for the...Read More
RAPAPORT... Ren?(C) Kamm has stepped down as CEO of MCH Group, the parentcompany of Baselworld, less than a week after Swatch Group said it would nolonger be attending the annual watch and jewelry show. Kamm (pictured) reached the joint decision with theboard "in view of the fundamental transformation phase" in the company'soperations, MCH said Friday. The executive has been with MCH for nearly 20...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue at Gem Diamonds rose in the first half of the yearas higher recoveries of large stones boosted the average selling price. Sales jumped 43% to $169.2 million by value and, by volume,climbed 8% to 61,696 carats, the miner reported Friday. Rough diamonds from thecompany's Let??eng mine in Lesotho achieved an average of $2,742 per carat,compared to $2,061 per carat in the same peri...Read More
RAPAPORT...The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has kicked out two boursemembers it suspects of swapping natural diamonds with synthetics. The traders were allegedly complicit in switching D-color,high-clarity polished diamonds weighing 3 to 5 carats with lab-grown stones,IDE president Yoram Dvash told Rapaport News Thursday. The traders came to theoffices of a company in the bourse to view the good...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa sold the 51.38-carat Dynasty diamond at auctionThursday, the most expensive stone in the miner's history. The round, D-color, VVS1-clarity, triple-Ex stone (pictured) wasoriginally the centerpiece of a five-stone collection the company cut andpolished from one large stone. The entire collection - which bears the samename as the main stone - fetched approximately $10 million...Read More
RAPAPORT... Ren?(C) Kamm has stepped down as CEO of MCH Group, the parentcompany of Baselworld, less than a week after Swatch Group said it would nolonger be attending the annual watch and jewelry show. Kamm (pictured) reached the joint decision with theboard "in view of the fundamental transformation phase" in the company'soperations, MCH said Friday. The executive has been with MCH for nearly 20...Read More
RAPAPORT...The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has kicked out two boursemembers it suspects of swapping natural diamonds with synthetics. The traders were allegedly complicit in switching D-color,high-clarity polished diamonds weighing 3 to 5 carats with lab-grown stones,IDE president Yoram Dvash told Rapaport News Thursday. The traders came to theoffices of a company in the bourse to view the good...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa sold the 51.38-carat Dynasty diamond at auctionThursday, the most expensive polished stone in the miner's history, it said Friday. The round, D-color, VVS1-clarity, triple-Ex stone (pictured) wasoriginally the centerpiece of a five-stone collection the company cut andpolished from one large stone. The entire collection - which bears the samename as the main stone - fetched...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Warren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathaway increased 5% to $3.93 billion in the second quarter, thecompany reported Saturday. The improvement in the division, which includes jewelrychains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was boosted inlarge part by the company's automotive sector and the sale of pre-ownedvehicles. Pre-tax earnings for the...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue at Gem Diamonds rose in the first half of the yearas higher recoveries of large stones boosted the average selling price. Sales jumped 43% to $169.2 million by value and, by volume,climbed 8% to 61,696 carats, the miner reported Friday. Rough diamonds from thecompany's Let??eng mine in Lesotho achieved an average of $2,742 per carat,compared to $2,061 per carat in the same peri...Read More
Russian giant Alrosa (MCX:ALRS) announced the selling of the most important diamond in its Dynasty collection, a 51.38-carat round stone, D color (colorless), with VVS1 clarity and no inclusions.In a press release, the company said that the Dynasty diamond "is the purest of all large diamonds manufactured throughout the Russian jewelry history" and the most expensive stone they have ever sold.With...Read More
LSE-listed Gem Diamonds continued to recover large diamonds during the first half of this year, with a record ten diamonds greater than 100 ct recovered, at its Letšeng mine, in Lesotho. Gem recovered another such diamond in July, which resulted in the highest number of more-than-100 ct diamond recoveries in a single year.AdvertisementLetšeng sold 61 696 ct of diamonds in the si...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Becoming a sustainable and relevant mining industry service provider requires a genuine effort to meet and address issues of localisation and transformation, while fostering local partnerships to develop extractive projects in African countries, suggests engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services provider Erudite Strategies.Followin...Read More
In a notable stride towards gender inclusivity in the diamond industry, De Beers Sightholder Sales South Africa’s Simangele Soni has become the first woman to occupy a senior operations manager role in the organisation. Appointed on March 1, Soni is now part of the sorting, valuation and sales business, or the midstream business, of De Beers. Advertisement She tells Mining Weekly that the mi...Read More
Diamond miner Alrosa on Thursday sold its Dynasty collection, and its central diamond of the same name, a 51.38-ct round stone, for a total of $10-million.The first auction for the sale of the collection, held in November 2017, saw four of the five stones sold, with the excess of final prices over reserve prices averaging about 30%.AdvertisementThe Dynasty collection, which took a year and a half...Read More