RAPAPORT... Sales of Forevermark diamonds soared this holiday as DeBeers ramped up marketing of its retail brand, the miner said. Jewelers sold 38% more Forevermark stones during the 2017season versus last year, with sales for the whole year rising 25%, De Beers CEOBruce Cleaver said in a speech to the brand's stockists last week. The Forevermark Tribute campaign, which targeted femaleself-purcha...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe may consider ending the country's policy of foreign companies in the diamond and platinum sector handing over a 51-percent controlling interest to local citizens, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa said. Mnangagwa, who became president in November after Robert Mugabe resigned, previously announced that the ownership requirement on all other minerals would be abol...Read More
JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his government is considering building reserves of gold and diamonds to back the eventual relaunch of the country’s own currency.The nation abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar in February 2009 after an economic collapse saw inflation surge to about 500-billion percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, after ex...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) has appointed TerryBoot as its new CEO, it said Tuesday. Boot (pictured), previously the UK group's head of finance and businessoperations, has been acting as interim CEO since August, after the departure of10-year company veteran Willie Hamilton. "I stated at the AGM in August that our main businessobjective is to ensure we are putting the focus f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The new Chairman of The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Pramod Agarwal, has welcomed the decision by the India's Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to slash the GST rate on cut and polished diamonds and precious stones to 0.25 percent from 3 percent, saying it will benefit small and medium-size firms and give a boost to the sector. Agarwal pointed...Read More
RAPAPORT... The UK's Princess Eugenie is sporting a rare sapphire and diamond engagementring after a proposal from her boyfriend of seven years, Jack Brooksbank. Eugenie's fianc?(C) bought the ring, featuring apink-orange padparadscha sapphire stone, from a jeweler, he said. Brooksbank proposedwithout the ring; he and Eugenie later added the surrounding diamonds to create the final piece. He...Read More
JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe, which has the world’s second-biggest platinum reserves, may lift a requirement that companies mining the metal or diamonds must be at least 51%-owned by black citizens of the country, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said.Mnangagwa, who became president in November after Robert Mugabe resigned under pressure from the military, has announced that the ownership requi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sarine Technologies Ltd has announced the official launch of its new Meteorite?,,? system for the cost-effective inclusion mapping of very small rough stones, under 0.35 carats. Based on the Meteor?,,? system, the Meteorite is "the most cost-effective solution currently available in the industry, to provide inclusion mapping for the segment of very small rough diamonds below...Read More
RAPAPORT... Damiani Group saw sales edge up in the fiscal first half as theItalian jeweler expanded its retail business in markets outside its homecountry. Total revenue climbed 0.2% to $85.7 million (EUR 69.9million) year on year in the six months that ended September 30, the companyreported last week. Retail sales increased 11% to $46.7 million (EUR 38.1million), outweighing a 10% slide in...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diamond major Alrosa has signed 67 long-term agreements for the sale of gem quality and industrial rough diamonds, 12 of which are agreements with Russian companies.Of the eight Russian companies that are buying rough diamonds from Alrosa, three are new clients – Aives, Diapur and Kristalldiam.AdvertisementThe new list comprises 22 companies registered...Read More
The International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI), organized by the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) from February 5-7 will feature an auction of special large rough diamonds by ALROSA, a world leader in the production of gem-quality diamonds. The total carat weight of the auction is 1,905 carats, and includes a 37.38-carat diamond. More than 100 clients have already registered for the auction,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Damiani Group saw sales edge up in the fiscal first half as theItalian jeweler expanded its retail business in markets outside its homecountry. Total revenue climbed 0.2% to $85.7 million (EUR 69.9million) year on year in the six months that ended September 30, the companyreported last week. Retail sales increased 11% to $46.7 million (EUR 38.1million), outweighing a 10% slide in...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) has appointed TerryBoot as its new CEO, it said Tuesday. Boot (pictured), previously the UK group's head of finance and businessoperations, has been acting as interim CEO since August, after the departure of10-year company veteran Willie Hamilton. "I stated at the AGM in August that our main businessobjective is to ensure we are putting the focus f...Read More
Finland's mining authority has granted Ireland's Karelian Diamond Resources (AIM: KDR) a four-year exploration claim in the Kaavi region, located in the eastern part of the country. This license provides the holder with an exclusive right to apply for a mining permit. The 28.84-hectare property is close to Karelian's Lahtojoki mining operation, which is en route to becoming the first diamond mine...Read More
Barely a week after finding the world's fifth-biggest diamond in history, Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) has unearthed yet another massive rock at its flagship Let??eng mine in Lesotho.The 149-carat, D colour, Type IIa rough diamond is the fourth high quality stone of over 100 carats the company has recovered so far this year at its prolific mine. Earlier in the month the miner discover...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports increased 2.1% to $23.09billion in 2017 as the nation shipped out a higher volume of goods. By weight, exports jumped 14% to 37.3 million carats, whilethe average price slipped 11% to $620 per carat, Rapaport calculations show. Netpolished exports - representing exports minus imports - jumped 3.8% to $20.71billion, according to the figures, which are ba...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelers of America picked the winners of its 16th annual GEM Awards, held on Friday in New York. Irene Neuwirth of Irene Neuwirth Jewelry won in the jewelry-design category for her modern style using raw, unmanufactured gemstones, while Marion Fasel took home the prize for media excellence for online magazine TheAdventurine.com.The retail-innovation award went to Moda Operandi, which...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE-listed Gem Diamonds on Monday reported that it has the recovered a 149 ct, D-colour Type IIa diamond, with excellent shape, from its 70%-owned Letšeng mine, in Lesotho.This is the fourth high-quality diamond of over 100 ct recovered so far this year, and follows closely upon the recovery of the exceptional 910 ct diamond on January 15.Letše...Read More
RAPAPORT... Michael Hill's sales rose 4.7% in the fiscal first half asgrowth in Canada and New Zealand outweighed a weaker performance in the US. Group revenue increased to $273.1 million (AUD 341.5million) in the six months that ended December 31, the jewelry retailer said in a recenttrading update. Same-store sales - those at branches open for at least a year -climbed 0.5%. Total sales in New Ze...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has unearthed its fourth 100-carat-plus diamond this year from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the company reported Monday. The discovery of the D-color, type IIa stone followsthe recovery of a 910-carat, D-color diamond from Let??eng last week, believed tobe the fifth-largest rough in history. The miner also uncovered two D-colorstones weighing 117 carats and 110 carats ear...Read More