(IDEX Online) - A 31.62-carat fancy blue diamond pendant necklace will lead Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction next month, with an estimate of $10m to $15m. The pear modified brilliant stone has been graded by GIA as natural color, VVS1 clarity and potentially Internally Flawless. The color is natural, fancy blue, even. It is set among round diamonds and pink diamonds in platinum and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - UK-based Endeavour Mining says it has discovered "one of the most significant" new gold resources in West Africa.The Tanda-Iguela property, in eastern Cote d'Ivoire, contains an estimated 1.1m ounces.Sebastien de Montessus, the company's CEO, said: "It ranks as one of the most significant discoveries made in West Africa over the last decade and shows potential to be anoth...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe, new chair of the Kimberley Process, says its diamond sector will grow to $1bn by the end of 2023.Winston Chitando (pictured), the country's mines and mining development minister, says Murowa Diamonds and the ZCDC (Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company) were expanding their operations and would help bring total output to 7m carats, up from 2m in 2018.In an interview w...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Richemont saw overall sales rise sharply, by 24 per cent in the six months to the end of September.But the Swiss luxury goods conglomerate, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Jaeger-leColutre, warned of "volatile times ahead".It reported revenue during the period at $9.9bn, and said operating profit was up 26 per cent to $2.8bn.The results were better than expected, esp...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond Foundry, which counts Leonardo DiCaprio among its high-profile backers, has bought a German lab grown company for an undisclosed sum.Augsburg Diamond Technology, also known as Audiatec, makes diamond wafers for jewelry and manufacturing."We had a good feeling about a possible cooperation with Diamond Foundry right from the first talks," said Audiatec's CEO Dr. Stefan G...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's polished diamond exports plunged by more than a quarter (26.1 per cent) in dollars during October amid ongoing weak demand. Total foreign sales for were $1.89bn, according to figures released by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), down year-on-year from $2.56bn. The drop was just over 18.7 per cent in rupee. Exports for the six mo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Nine banks in India have received approval for measures that will allow diamond manufacturers to buy Russia goods in rupees.HDFC Bank and Canara Bank have already opened "vostro accounts" according to the Business Standard newspaper, and seven more are expected to follow.To settle international trade transactions in rupees, a foreign bank can open a vostro account - one that a corr...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A British jeweler has created a 15-carat diamond necklace for a dog, with a price tag of almost $600,000.Nathalie Knauf, who runs Knauf Jewels in Soho, London, says it was designed for a client, to complement her necklace and earrings.The silver dog necklace has a total of 91 D-color diamonds, with a total weight of 15 carats, and a para?? -ba tourmaline pear-shaped pendant."It is...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Spending on jewelry in the US fell by almost four per cent in October, compared with the same period last year.That's according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment.It says the jewelry sector saw a 3.8 per cent drop, second only to all other luxury goods, which saw an 8.7 per cent drop.Across all sectors, excl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to sell a stolen 9.46-carat diamond ring to a jewelry store in Georgia, USA.Staff say they've been able to return the ring to its rightful owner, a 90-year-old woman.They were offered the $95,000 piece noticed the name and address he gave didn't match those on the certificate. They called the police and kept him talking.In a Fa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) has updated its Assure 2.0 portal, which objectively assesses the relative performance of diamond verification instruments (DVI).It provides fact sheets, a list of features, performance tests and independent lab test results for a wide range of DVIs, used to check that diamonds are natural.The first generation of the Assure program was launched in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co. has announced a raft of measures aimed at achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It says that by 2030 emissions from its own stores, distribution centers, manufacturing and offices should be down 70 per cent and from its supply chain by 40 per cent. By 2040 is should reach net-zero. Total emissions should be down by 90 per cent, with high-quality carbo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A security guard at a jewelry store was shot dead yesterday during a heist at a shopping mall in Illinois, USA.Surveillance video shows three raiders step round the 57-year-old man as he laying bleeding on the floor.Police officers who happened to be on a training exercise at the mall property gave him CPR but he died hours later in hospital.The crime happened at River Oaks Center...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has extended its "groundbreaking partnership" with HB Antwerp to sell its specials (+10.8-cts) for the next 10 years.The Canadian miner first joined forces with HB in July 2020 to sell the high-value rough from its Karowe mine, in Botswana (pictured).Under the agreement, Lucara's +10.8 carat production is sold at prices based on the estimated polished outcome of each di...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today reported sales of $450m at its latest cycle, in line with an expected lull due to Diwali. That figure, for Cycle 9, is down from $508m at Cycle 8 and $638m at Cycle 7, but is broadly in line with the same sales period last year ($438m).CEO Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: "We saw good demand for our rough diamonds during Cycle 9 with sales reflect...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jeans company Wrangler is to auction a $40,000 one-off diamond-encrusted cowboy belt buckle for good causes.It was created with 75 diamonds - total weight 6.34 carats - to mark its 75th anniversary, together with yellow gold, blue topaz and sterling silver accents. All proceeds will go to the independent non-profit organizations Western Sports Foundation and Lead Changes...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The 170.2-carat Lulo Rose, believed to be the largest pink diamond found in the last 300 years, has been sold at tender.The price paid for the stone, named after the alluvial mine in Angola where it was recovered, was not disclosed.But it was among seven specials from the same mine that realized a total of $20.4m, according to Sodiam, Angola's national diamond trading company....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's is to auction another huge pink diamond, this time a 13.15-carat gem with a high estimate of $35m.It's just a week since it sold the 18.18-carat pear-shaped Fortune Pink for $28.8m (Estimate $25m to $35m) in Geneva.Next month the "magnificently" fancy vivid diamond, described as "VVS1 clarity, potentially internally flawless", will be offered for sale in New Yo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lab grown manufacturers in Surat are to get a tax break after the state government announced they would no longer have to pay duty of up to 15 per cent on their electricity bills.It represents a significant saving in a sector where energy accounts for almost 70 per cent of expenditure.The move follows an announcement by the State Bank of India (SBI) in August that it would start le...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two cases of attempted frauds involving synthetic moissanite are highlighted in the GIA's latest quarterly journal Gems & Gemology.In one case a 7.42-ct rough stone, presented to its New York lab, had been carved into an octahedron, with stepped edges and coarse textures deliberately chosen to imitate the appearance of a natural diamond.In the other, what appeared to be a...Read More