TRADE ALERT: NewUS Federal Trade Commission guidelines still require full disclosure forlab-grown diamonds. While the FTC expanded the definition of the word "diamond"to include synthetics, it continues to restrict the use of the word "diamonds"to natural diamonds unless it is immediately preceded by a phrase that clearlydiscloses the product is not a mined diamond. News: Trading centersquiet, wit...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Blue diamonds, among the rarest of all colored diamonds, form at extreme depths - approximately four times deeper than most diamonds - and may get their color from a surprising source, the GIA said in a statement. It is known that the element boron gives the diamonds their color, but new investigations show it is contained in the floors of ancient oceans carried deep into th...Read More
Some improvement asother trading centers take vacation. Buyers from China, Belgium, Israel and USin Mumbai looking for goods. Low expectations for next week's IIJS show (August9 to 13), amid stagnant domestic demand due to weaker rupee. Manufacturingmargins squeezed after rough prices rise 4% in first half, while polishedsoftened during July quiet. Rough trading slows after De Beers sight. RoundRead More
(IDEX Online News) - The IDEX polished diamond price index was stable in July, rising very slightly during the month as was the case in June. ...Read More
Angola is working to ensure that the major South African diamond companies can operate in the country.This was stated recently by Endiama Strategic Planning and Minerals Operations Bureau head Laureano Paulo. (Endiama is Angola’s State-owned national diamond company. Its name is an acronym for Empresa Nacional de Prospecção, Exploracão, Lapidação e Comercia...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields Group has suffered further unrest at itsemerald-exploration operation in Ethiopia, with looters vandalizing the siteand stealing gemstones, the miner said Wednesday. The perpetrators gained access to the sorting house onTuesday and broke into the safe, stealing the emeralds inside it. They alsotook equipment and instruments, and ransacked the residential camp belonging toWeb...Read More
(IDEX Online) - In a public statement on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Jewelry Guides, the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) said it welcomes the release following six years of consultation with the industry. "This document plays an important role, alongside other applicable norms and standards, in protecting consumers from deceitful communication by marketers. The DPA commit...Read More
RAPAPORT... Exports of rough diamonds that De Beers mined in Botswanadeclined 2.5% to $1.67 billion in the first half of 2018, according to data thenation's central bank released this week. Shipments fell 6% year on year to $758.1 million in thesecond quarter, after increasing 0.3% to $915.5 million in the first, the Bankof Botswana reported. The figures refer to goods that Debswana, De Beers' jo...Read More
De Beers has decided to close the Voorspoed diamond mine in the Free State, Anglo American has drawn a line in the sand for its thermal coal portfolio and emerging tin miner AfriTin is on track to meet its targets. Mining Weekly editor Martin Creamer unpacks the headlines.AdvertisementRead More
RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items rose in greater Chinain the first half of the year amid continued positive consumer sentiment andincreased tourism to Hong Kong. In China, retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry grew 7%to $20.26 billion (CNY 138.3 billion) in the six months ending June 30, theNational Bureau of Statistics of China reported recently. Sales in June climbed8% to $...Read More
RAPAPORT... Blue diamonds may get their color from traces of boroncontained in the floors of ancient oceans, according to research by theGemological Institute of America (GIA). The research lab studied mineral inclusions in 46 blue diamondssubmitted to the GIA for grading over a two-year period. The group, led by GIA research scientist Evan Smith, foundthat these stones originated at depths...Read More
Given that most of the high-economic diamond deposits in the world have already been put into production, diluted via expansion, or depleted, going forward the economics of diamond mines will inevitably gravitate towards higher-cost, lower-value operations. Miners are left with a fairly limited decision to replenish their declining resource bases by either discovering or buying greenfield1 project...Read More
Three Russian reporters murdered Monday in an ambush while working in the Central African Republic (CAR), were said to have been investigating the activities of a mercenary group linked to an ally of President Vladimir Putin, an exiled oil tycoon who funded their trip says.They were looking into Russian private mercenaries as well as on Russia's interests in the local diamond, gold and uranium sec...Read More
The Hope Diamond, a rare blue diamond that is one of the world's most famous jewels, has had a complicated history, passing through the hands of monarchs and bankers and heiresses and thieves before landing for all to see at a Washington museum.The geological history of blue diamonds is even more complex, according to research published on Wednesday examining these exceptionally scarce and valuabl...Read More
Shares in Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE:RIO) fell about 3% in both London and New York on Wednesday despite the world's No.2 mining company announcing it would return more than $7 billion through dividends and share buybacks.In London, Rio was down 3.21% to 4,062p by 2:00 p.m local time, while shares traded in New York dropped 3.5% in premarket, after the company said first-half profit grew 12% to $...Read More
RAPAPORT... Roughly 14 million to 19 million people work as artisanaland small-scale gold miners (ASGM) in developing countries, according to a 2017study. Many of them use mercury, a permanent, potent neurotoxin, in order to bemarginally efficient in capturing gold. These people mine to live, and in theprocess, they inadvertently release more than 8,000 pounds of mercury into ourenvironment every...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamond sales at Rio Tinto fell 5% to $323 million in thefirst half of the year, the miner reported Wednesday. Net profit for the division nearly tripled to $55 millionfrom $19 million a year ago. Production increased 9% to 9.2 million caratsprimarily due to higher output at the Argyle mine, offsetting lower recoverylevels at Diavik. Rio Tinto's development of the A21 project, an expa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue at Diamcor Mining increased 3% during the mostrecent fiscal year, boosted by a higher average price, the miner said Monday. Rough-diamond sales rose to $4.6 million during the 12months ending March 31, the company reported. Average selling prices jumped 42%to $194 per carat, compared with $137 per carat a year earlier. By volume, sales fell 27%to 23,765 carats as lower processi...Read More
RAPAPORT... A South African company is claiming rights to portions of Botswana Diamonds' Mooikloof project. "Despite [Botswana Diamonds associate Vutomi] obtaining afully notarized and registered prospecting right on Mooikloof from the SouthAfrican Department of Mineral Resources [DMR], a local company claims they havea mining permit over 5 hectares of property," John Teeling, Botswana Diamonds'CE...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Carats.io, the fintech startup company that is issuing the world's first-ever digital currency backed by diamonds, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Celsius, a blockchain-powered global financial platform that allows its members to borrow capital and earn interest against their crypto-holdings. According to the agreement, Carats.io's CARAT coins...Read More