Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More
RAPAPORT... Polished-diamond imports into Hong slumped in the second quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic damaged local demand. Shipments into the municipality fell 45% year on year to $2.24 billion, the weakest for any quarter since 2009 - outstripping the first quarter's low of $2.33 billion.Diamond imports into Hong Kong reflect the local retail market, as well as that of China, for which the...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fell 16% to $3.37 billion in the second quarter, the company reported Saturday.The division, which includes jewelry chains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was hit by shutdowns affecting many of the company's retail outlets. Pretax earnings for the entire retail unit dropped 39% to $148 million....Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies ended the first half of 2020 in the black as deep cost cuts offset the effects of Covid-19.The supplier of diamond-polishing equipment made a profit of $1.2 million for the period, compared with a loss of $2.8 million a year earlier, it reported Thursday. The company brought its expenses down by around 20% year on year in response to the unprecedented situation...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province reported a loss in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic closed markets and hit demand.The miner posted a net loss of CAD 26.8 million ($21.8 million) for the three months ending June 30, compared with a profit of CAD 10.3 million ($7.7 million) during the same period last year, the company said Wednesday. "Our [second-quarter] financial and operational figur...Read More
RAPAPORT... The estate-jewelry sector has fared well during the Covid-19 crisis as customers have continued to show interest in designer goods, dealer Rick Shatz told the Jewelry Connoisseur Podcast.Higher-end clients - on whom the pandemic has taken a lower toll - have still bought signed pieces, perhaps seeing security in these purchases, Shatz said in an interview with Rapaport Editor in C...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Sewel?? ? diamond, the second largest rough gem ever found, is in Singapore on a "worldwide tour" before owners Louis Vuitton decide what to do with it. The 1,758-carat stone, the size of a tennis ball, was discovered in the Karowe mine in Botswana in April 2019, and is the biggest diamond since the 3,106-carat Cullinan was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The French luxury...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An extremely rare gold Rolex Daytona sold for $1.5m, a record high price for a watch in any online auction.It fetched almost twice the high estimate of $800,000 in a week-long auction by Sotheby's, in London. It also set a record for highest price ever paid for a wristwatch in the UK.Only 10 examples of the Daytona JPS (John Player Special) Ref. 6264 in 18k yellow gold a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The diamond market could take "the best part of two years" to recover, Goldman Sachs analyst Jack O'Brien has warned.India's manufacturing midstream, responsible fort the vast majority of the world's diamonds, has collapsed because of a lack of credit, resulting in significant stockpiles, he said.And Russian miner Alrosa expects to have amassed a year's worth of...Read More
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KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Borneo Oil Bhd have rallied to a two-year high in early trade today after announcing a gold deposits discovery in one of its mining plots.Read full newsRead More
Mining plays are worth considering as indirect trades on the rising price of gold, two ETF researchers say.Read full newsRead More
Greenlane Renewables Inc. is a pioneer in the rapidly emerging renewable natural gas (RNG) market.Read full newsRead More
The year 2020 has really been an epic one for financial markets. Some of the top TSX stocks that once seemed indestructible lost 60-90% of their value, while some have tripled in just a few months.Let’s discuss some of the top-gaining TSX stocks of 2020. We will see what drove them and see if there is any steam still left.Top gainers in Canadian broader markets include Shopify (TSX:SHOP)(NYS...Read More
The robust recovery in stock markets following its crash in March despite any strong fundamentals indicates that the rally might not hold for long. Besides, a sustained increase in coronavirus cases and weak economic data further strengthen the bear case.So if you’re worried about a second market crash and want to reduce risk without sacrificing much on the growth, here are my top three sugg...Read More
Aerial view of Mount Polley tailings dam breach in August 2014. Image from Business in Vancouver. Around 1 a.m. on August 4, 2014, a worker withdrawing water from the Mount Polley, British Columbia tailings pond dam was puzzled when he noticed he suddenly had no water. He would not know until later that, at the other end of the 250-hectare dam, a portion of the north-facing embankment had collaps...Read More
Image: Glencore via Instagram Copper futures prices rebounded sharply on Monday on the back of a surge in Chinese imports of the metal widely used in industry and construction.Copper for delivery in September trading in New York changed hands for $2.8850 a pound ($6,360 a tonne) in afternoon trade, snapping back 3.3% from a sharp drop on Friday.In March, the bellwether metal briefly traded belo...Read More
While the stock market is within a couple percentage points of all-time highs, gold is now testing the $2,000-per-ounce mark.This may seem counter-intuitive with both rising at the same time. In some ways it is, but it isn't.It isn't just a doom-and-gloom counter-narrative, though plenty of gold haters always see any rise in gold prices that way.Instead, what we're seeing is the formation of a lon...Read More
Image from Inomin Mines. Inomin Mines' (TSXV: MINE) shares surged 15% on Monday following its recent property acquisitions to extend the company's project portfolio beyond Canada.Last week, the Vancouver-based miner entered an agreement to acquire the La Gitana and Pena Blanca gold-silver projects in Mexico from Gunpoint Exploration (TSXV: GUN). As consideration, Inomin issued one million shares,...Read More
Pebble project site, Alaska. Image from Northern Dynasty. Northern Dynasty Minerals' (TSX: NDM) US-based subsidiary Pebble Limited Partnership said on Monday that any action by a future Democratic administration to deny its permits for the Pebble project in Alaska would be promptly overturned, given the favorable findings of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by the US Army C...Read More