RAPAPORT... The recent geopolitical storm pushed De Beers to accelerate the expansion of its blockchain platform, chief brand officer David Prager told Rapaport News.The miner recently launched a scaled-up version of Tracr, enabling the industry to trace all De Beers diamonds through to the jewelry store. The business-to-business (B2B) tool lets retailers see a stone's entire path through the supp...Read More
RAPAPORT... The word "metaverse" is suddenly on everyone's lips, but what does it mean and why is it important for the diamond industry? That was the topic for the second episode of "Fast-Tracking the Future," a webinar series sponsored by Sarine Technologies.Titled "Diamonds in the Metaverse," the session explored non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their potential benefits for the market. The pa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The average spend on a diamond engagement ring in the US last year was $7,011, up 6.1 per cent on 2020, as couples opted for bigger stones, and more lab growns.The size of the center stone diamond size rose, on average, from 1.20 carats to 1.32 carats.And almost a quarter of couple are choosing a lab grown stone, according to research for BriteCo, an insurance technology company. T...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The newest diamond mine in Sierra Leone is to hold its maiden sale of rough production later this month.The Tongo Diamond Mine, operated by Australia-based Newfield Resources, has signed an exclusive sales and marketing agreement with Bonas, in Antwerp.Newfield describes the mine as "an 8.3m carat JORC compliant indicated and inferred diamond resource, primarily based on five kimbe...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, May 9, 2022, Las Vegas ... RapNet, the world's largest diamond trading network with daily listings of 1.8 million diamonds valued at $8.7 billion, has banned Russian diamonds from its network. The ban applies to all diamonds sourced from Russia after February 24, 2022, and includes polished diamonds manufactured outside of Russia from Russian rough diamonds. The ban include...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Seasoned diamond hunter Adam Hardin has found his biggest stone yet - a 2.38-carat brown gem.He's been a regular visitor to the Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Arkansas, for a decade and says he's found hundreds of smaller stones. But this is by far the biggest.It's the USA's only active diamond mine, where visitors pay $10 a day to sift the soil - and keep an...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Angolan government says Endiama, the state-run diamond company, could be hit by delays in Russian-made mining machinery and spares as the war in Ukraine continues.But Russia's ambassador to the country is adamant that Western sanctions "will not affect its work in Angola in any way".A Reuters report cites a brochure made available by the Angolan government at the Mining In...Read More
RAPAPORT... Nongovernmental organization Resolve has launched a project to rehabilitate land affected by artisanal and small-scale diamond mining in Africa.After miners leave a site, local inhabitants lose arable land they need for basic farming, as soil gets depleted and abandoned pits fill with water, Resolve explained in a statement last week. They also face insect-borne diseases and other...Read More
RAPAPORT... An Art Deco Cartier bracelet set with 101 carats of Colombian emeralds could go for up to $1.3 million at an upcoming jewelry sale at Bonhams, the auction house predicted.The piece, which was designed in 1926, is from the collection of American heiress H?(C)l??ne Irwin Crocker Fagan, the daughter of sugar baron William Irwin, Bonhams said last week. Another Cartier item belonging to th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Prices of fancy-color diamonds grew 1% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months amid strong market for pinks, according to the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF).Pink fancy-color prices gained 1.3%, with yellows up 0.7%, the organization reported Monday in its quarterly release of the Fancy Color Diamond Index. Prices of blues increased 0.1%.Prices for the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - UK-based miner Vast Resources has indicated it still hopes to win the go-ahead from Zimbabwe's government to operate in the Marange diamond fields.It has partnered with Chiadzwa Community Company (CCC) and had hoped to sign a deal back in 2019.Despite a series of delays, Vast's CEO Andrew Prelea has indicated that the company remains hopeful it will be granted licenses to...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The former bookkeeper at New York jewelry company Julie Vos has been charged with stealing over $2.8m to pay his American Express bills.Francisco Lopez, 36, from Bayside, New York, was indicted with grand larceny in the first degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree.He is alleged to have made thousands of fraudulent transactions - "regularly but d...Read More
RAPAPORT... A 21.93-carat diamond far outstripped its high estimate at Heritage Auctions' most recent jewelry sale, raking in $300,000.The round brilliant-cut, W- to X-color, VVS2-clarity diamond necklace, which has baguette-cut diamonds set into the chain, was expected to fetch $200,000 at the May 2 Fine Jewels sale, Heritage said last week. In total, the auction realized $5.4 million.A round bri...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers says its blockchain-backed Tracr platform is now able to track the journey of every diamond it sells, from Sight to retailer.The UK-based miner says the tamper-proof technology has already been used for a quarter of its production by value during its first three Sights of 2021.Tracr, which employs blockchain, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and advanced sec...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province's sales and earnings jumped in the first quarter as the Canadian miner benefited from growth in rough prices.Revenue rose 56% year on year to CAD 84.7 million ($65.7 million) for the three months, the company reported last week. Net profit more than tripled to CAD 24.3 million ($18.9 million) from CAD 7.3 million ($5.7 million) a year earlier. The average selling...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry salespeople in the US are being urged to take extra care, after one was stabbed and two others were targeted by criminals within a week.The Jewelers' Security Alliance (JSA) says it's important to check nobody's following your vehicle, and to take "evasive driving techniques" if necessary.A traveling salesperson was stabbed twice after four males smashe...Read More
RAPAPORT... US jewelry sales rose in April amid consumer excitement to return to in-store shopping, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.Revenue for the category climbed 33% year on year during the month, Mastercard reported last week. That figure is up from March's 12% year-on-year increase. The segment also benefited from consumers refreshing their wardrobe for summer travel. Jewelry purchases...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong's hard-luxury sales plunged further in March as the government tightened its restrictions in response to a Covid-19 resurgence.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts fell 37% year on year to HKD 1.89 billion ($240.3 million) for the month, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported last week. The decline is sharper than February's 34% decre...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has expanded its Tracr blockchain platform to track all of its diamonds through to retail.The program will "underpin confidence in natural diamonds" and is a first step in enhancing standards in the industry, De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said Thursday.By deploying the platform "at scale," De Beers will be able to provide provenance information from the mine to the sigh...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond sanctions are beginning to bite in India, as US buyers demand guarantees that polished stones were not mined in Russia, according to news reports.The US outlawed rough, gem-quality diamonds shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February, but the ban does not cover stones that are "substantially transformed" - namely cut and polished - elsewhere.However, manufacturers in...Read More