RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds reported a decline in first-quarter sales, marking a contrast after a stronger performance in pandemic-hit 2020.Revenue fell 7% year on year to $43.9 million during the three months ending March 31, the company, which owns the Let??eng deposit in Lesotho, said in a trading update Thursday. Sales volume dropped 8% to 26,916 carats.The slump in volume outweighed a 1% in...Read More

RAPAPORT... India is undergoing a severe Covid-19 crisis that will impact the global diamond trade. India manufactures about 92% of the world's diamonds. While the Indian government is doing everything possible to support continued diamond manufacturing and exports, shortages and price volatility are expected to intensify over the next few months. This is a good time to support Indian suppliers. T...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers reported a decline in rough-diamond production in the first quarter while maintaining its full-year guidance as demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels.Operational challenges drove a 7% year-on-year slump in output to 7.2 million carats, De Beers' parent company Anglo American said Thursday. Declines in Botswana, Namibia and Canada outweighed a strong recovery in South Af...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Prosecutors have launched an investigation into Eurostar Diamond Traders, one of the world's biggest traders until its collapse in 2019.The Antwerp-based company reported a $16bn turnover in 2016 but was declared bankrupt three years later, with bank debts of $560m.The investigation will focus on possible mismanagement surrounding the bankruptcy, in particular the role of the...Read More

RAPAPORT... Warren Buffett-owned jeweler Ben Bridge and the Black in Jewelry Coalition (BIJC) are sponsoring a scholarship for a minority candidate to receive a degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).The jeweler will also provide the winner of the Lonia Tate scholarship with an internship at one of its locations after the candidate has completed the GIA graduate gemologist program,...Read More

Freeport-McMoRan's Morenci operations in Arizona, the United States, have been awarded the Copper Mark, an assurance framework demonstrating responsible production practices and contribution to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.This brings the number of the company's sites that have achieved the Copper Mark to six. In addition to Morenci, they are the Miami smelter and mine, and th...Read More

RAPAPORT... Heritage Auctions has hired Brett O'Connor as senior director of private sales for jewelry and timepieces.O'Connor, who was most recently senior vice president and head of jewelry for North America at Bonhams, will focus on expanding Heritage's platform for private sales, the company said Tuesday. He also previously held senior roles at Sotheby's and Christie's."[Brett] brings a wealth...Read More

Freeport-McMoRan has not yet reached a mutually acceptable agreement to develop a new copper smelter in Indonesia with a third-party, but commercial discussions have been taking place, the company said.In its first-quarter 2021 earnings on April 22, the US copper producer said that the smelter would be at an alternate location to other options on the table for the project.The company did not name...Read More

US copper producer Freeport-McMoRan said it expects production at its Indonesia unit to rise significantly in 2021 from year-ago levels, reaching around 1.3 billion pounds of copper, or 589,670 tonnes.In 2020, the company's Indonesia unit produced 809 million lbs, or 366,956 tonnes. The increase comes as the company transitions from open pit to underground mining at the giant Grasberg mine in Indo...Read More

RAPAPORT... Beyonc?(C) Knowles-Carter has chosen the Black industry professionals who will win a scholarship for a graduate gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).The performer selected Audriana Osborne and Shelton Bradford to receive The Beyonc?(C) Knowles-Carter x Lorraine Schwartz GIA Scholarship, the GIA said Tuesday. In their applications, the winners wrote abo...Read More

A lack of automotive demand in the UK - and across the rest of the world - has driven secondary aluminium prices in the country to a two-month low, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday April 22.The global shortage of semiconductor chips, which has led to a temporary halt in automotive production across the UK and Europe, has weakened demand for secondary aluminium, putting downward pressure on ingot pric...Read More

US copper producer Freeport-McMoRan said its Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru is expected to be back at pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels in 2022.This will see the mine, in which Freeport owns a 53.56% stake, return to around 400,000 tonnes of ore per day. During the first quarter of 2021, Cerro Verde's concentrator facilities exceeded planned milling rates and averaged 390,100 tonnes of ore per day. It...Read More

Fastmarkets wishes to inform customers that it will change the way it publishes its downloadable weekly base metal premiums table PDF effective June 1 as part of the transition to the Dashboard, its dynamic, real-time data and news delivery platform.We will continue to publish our global base metal wraps on a weekly basis, providing the informative context and market detail that customers are accu...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States stayed above $70 per hundredweight for a second day in a row, with market participants warning that the price will continue to climb to new highs.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $70.28 per cwt ($1,405.60 per short ton) on Thursday April 22, down 0.35% from $70.53 per cwt on Wednesday April 21 but up 2.26% fro...Read More

Less than a month after the start of the April-June 2021 safeguard quota period for imports of steel materials into Europe, the quotas for a number of products have been either completely exhausted or almost filled.And in February this year, the European Commission started an investigation into the possible extension beyond June 30 this year of existing safeguard measures affecting 26 steel produc...Read More

Prices for steel reinforcing bar in the United States have remained stable, with market participants sharing mixed sentiments about the possibility of a looming upswing.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US was steady at $41.75 per hundredweight ($835 per short ton) on Wednesday April 21, unchanged since March 10.US marketSome sources continued to hear marke...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationBrazil has one of the world's worst COVID-19 outbreaks, and Cole revealed today that while OZ was working in areas that were less affected than other provinces, its workers were not immune.Read More

Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau will restart operations at its Arauc??ria unit, in the country's southern Paran?? state, after 6.5 years of downtime, the company said on Thursday April 22.Production will resume at a gradual pace, depending on domestic market developments, Gerdau said. Total crude steel capacity at the site is 420,000 tonnes per year, it added in a filing to Brazil's securities and exc...Read More

Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) and pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI), or color coated coil, were more or less stable in the week to Thursday April 22, while demand remained strong, sources told Fastmarkets.Most coated coil producers were fully booked until August, with some accepting orders for September production.Demand was strong in both the local and export markets because of...Read More

The steel billet and rebar market in Egypt remained slow this week amid the uncertainty surrounding the country's construction ban and a slow market because of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, sources said on Thursday April 22.All markets in most Muslim countries tend to slow down over Ramadan, which started on April 12 and will end around mid-May, due to reduced working hours.Market participant...Read More