LONDON – Anglo American's diamond unit De Beers aims to launch the first industry-wide blockchain this year to track gems each time they change hands starting from the moment they are dug from the ground, its chief executive said on Tuesday.De Beers, the world's biggest diamond producer by the value of its gems, has led industry efforts to verify the authenticity of diamonds and ensu...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto is forecasting diamond production for 2018 of between 17 and 20 million carats. The diversified miner owns the Argyle mine in Australia and 60 percent of the Diavik mine in Canada. At Argyle, 2017 carat production was 23 percent higher than 2016 due to the additional processing of higher grade alluvial tailings. At Diavik, carats recovered in 2017 wer...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pandora chief financial officer Peter Vekslund and presidentof Americas Scott Burger are leaving the company, the Danish jeweler reportedlast week. Anders Boyer, a member of Pandora's board of directors since2012 and the CFO of Hempel, will replace Vekslund, a four-year veteran at thecompany, in the coming months. "Pandora is a fantastic growth story and has a very strongbrand. I am lo...Read More
LONDON – A small, embattled diamond miner just hit the jackpot. The 910-carat stone found by Gem Diamonds Ltd. high in the mountains of Lesotho in southern Africa is the fifth-largest in history. Here are the bigger ones:THE CULLINAN DIAMONDAdvertisementBy far the largest at 3,106 carats, it was found at the Premier mine in South Africa in 1905 and named after the mine owner, Sir Thomas Cull...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's has hired Sam Hines as worldwide head of its watchdivision - the auction house's second senior appointment for its jewelry andtimepiece department in less than two months. Based in Hong Kong, Hines (pictured) will oversee the unit and workwith the existing team on its major sales in Geneva, New York, Hong Kong andLondon, Sotheby's said Monday. He has 20 years of experie...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewellery Network (WJN) has released the#NoGlassCeiling social media campaign, in support of ambitious, career-orientedwomen in the UK jewelry industry. The campaign, which the WJN shared over Instagram, Facebook andTwitter, aims to shatter the perception that there is a glass ceiling on the level of achievement UK women in the jewelry industry can reach, the org...Read More
VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – A two-pronged purchase offer by Ascot Diamonds to acquire the three bankrupt South African subsidiaries, and later, a Cayman-based entity of Canadian miner Rockwell Diamonds is still a viable solution to achieve a sale transaction and therefore, a higher recovery value for creditors, Rockwell said in a statement on Monday.A formal liquidation application for su...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Women's Jewellery Network, which supports women in the UK jewelry industry, has launched a viral social media campaign to celebrate the ambition and drive of both the organization and its members. The bold image stating #NoGlassCeiling has been shared widely by those working in the UK jewelry trade, through social channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the bod...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – While the local November mining production statistics showed a relatively solid increase of 6.5% year-on-year, bolstered by platinum-group metals (PGMs), iron-ore and coal, the longer-term prospects for the industry remain less certain, owing to a difficult operating environment and policy uncertainty, according to Nedbank economists Busisiwe Radebe and Denn...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's has hired Sam Hines as worldwide head of its watchdivision - the auction house's second senior appointment for its jewelry andtimepiece department in less than two months. Based in Hong Kong, Hines (pictured) will oversee the unit and workwith the existing team on its major sales in Geneva, New York, Hong Kong andLondon, Sotheby's said Monday. He has 20 years of experie...Read More
RAPAPORT... The second edition of the Carat+ diamond trade show will take place at the Antwerp Expo in Belgium from May 6 to 8, organizers said. The international fair focuses on diamonds, loose stones,diamond jewelry and colored gemstones.Last year's expo saw an official visitor count of 2,927 andwon praise from those involved in the show.This year, the show will feature special exhibitions,...Read More
Dutch journalist Bram Ebus has just published an entire website dedicated to Venezuela's Mining Arc, a mega project that is at the centre of a national controversy given the devastation to both the natural environment and local communities that it is causing, as well as the innumerable allegations of rampant corruption surrounding it.Ebus spent three months investigating the many different aspects...Read More
Shares in Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) skyrocketed Monday morning after the miner announced the recovery of what it qualified as the fifth biggest gem-quality diamond ever found.The 910-carat, D colour, Type IIa rough diamond was unearthed at the firm's flagship Let??eng mine in Lesotho. According to analysts at Liberum, it could fetch as much as $40 million, based on previous sales...Read More
RAPAPORT... Birks Group's November and December sales declined 4% due toongoing renovations at two flagship stores and weak consumer sentiment in Canada, the jeweler reported Friday. The Montreal-based company noted comparable store sales grew 2% during the period, reflecting growth in locations that were open for more than a year and thus discounting the impact of the stores undergoing renovation...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) plans to reveal two newcryptocurrencies createdspecifically for the diamond industry by startup CARATS.IO, the exchange said Monday.CARATS.IO will host a seminar during the International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI), taking place February 5 to 7, to introduce the new cryptocurrencies and explainhow they can benefit the trade. "By cooperating with this...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds Limited has recovered an exceptional quality 910 carat, D color Type IIa diamond from the Let??eng mine in Lesotho which is believed to be the fifth largest gem quality diamond ever found. The mining company said in a statement that it is the largest diamond recovered from the Let??eng mine in the landlocked country. The Let??eng mine has a reputation for...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Investors should be prepared to value the reserves of metal that Glencore owns more highly to reward the proactive approach that the London- and Johannesburg-listed diversified mining company has to managing its assets.Reflecting on the decision of Glencore to pull metal from the market during the crisis of 2015/16, Bernstein analysts Paul Gait, Jonathan Abs...Read More
APAPORT... Botswana's Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) reported that rough sales rose 4% in 2017, boosted by higher prices achieved at its auctions. Sales totaled $567 million for the year, compared to $546 million in 2016, the state-owned company said. It sold 3.417 million carats across 10 auctions held during the year, with its average price up 4% to $166 per carat."Overall, 2017 was a solid trad...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) will unveil new diamond-based cryptocurrencies created by startup CARATS.IO during the February 5-7 International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI). CARATS.IO will host a seminar introducing its new diamond-backed financial instruments to explain the benefits to the diamond industry, the IDE said. According to Founder and CEO Avishai Sho...Read More
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s state diamond company is expected to produce at least 3 million carats this year, up 65 percent from 1.8 million in 2017, the mines minister told parliament on Monday.Winston Chitando said the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company, which was formed in 2016 when the government banned private companies from operating in the Marange diamond fields, will start selling g...Read More