RAPAPORT... Birks Group's profit more than doubled in the past fiscalyear after the Canadian retailer sold subsidiary Mayors Jewelers. Profit grew to $11.7 million for the 12 months ending March31 from $4.9 million a year ago, the jeweler reported Tuesday. The company offloadedMayors to UK-based Aurum Holdings for $106.8 million in October, boosting its profit figure by $29.9million. Excluding tha...Read More

South African mines that are on care and maintenance are bad for the economy and the issue is being raised with the Minerals Council, Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said.The Department of Minerals and Energy has been to 11 mining areas to obtain feedback on the mining charter, Mantashe said at the opening of Sasol Ltd.'s Shondoni Colliery in Secunda in Mpumalanga province.The government...Read More

RAPAPORT... Titan Company reported lower-than-expected jewelry sales inthe first fiscal quarter due to a decline in consumer demand for gold. "Weakness in the consumer sentiment has had an impact on oursales, also leading to recording of sales below our internal targets," theretailer said Wednesday, referring to the three months ending June 30. While purchases during the Akshaya Tritiya festival...Read More

Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) climbed on Thursday after the miner said it had sold its stake in the Kimberley Ekapa Mining joint venture to its namesake partner, Ekapa Mining, for about 300 million rand ($22 million).London-listed shares in the South African diamond producer, which have more than halved in the last two years, jumped 3.64% to 55.45 pence by 1:42 PM local time.Sale will allow Petra to f...Read More

(IDEX Online) - IJL trends editor and jewelry expert, Paola De Luca, will be outlining six key jewelry trend themes for Spring-Summer 2019 at International Jewellery London (IJL), the UK's leading trade event for the international jewelry industry. Her vision includes designs rooted in urban lifestyles, the renaissance of pearls, dark romantic influences, and a blending of Art Deco and 1960s Op Ar...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa sold $17 million worth of rough at a large-stoneauction in Vladivostok last month, the Russian miner said Wednesday. The 121 diamonds - each over 10.8 carats - weighed acombined 2,000 carats, and fetched an average price of $8,500 per carat. The stonessold for more than one and a half times their original asking price, Alrosanoted. Companies from Belgium, China, Hong Kong, India...Read More

Metals packaging firm Ball Corp is to cease production at its beverage packaging plant in Cuiab??, Brazil, and will provide for customers' needs through others of the company's units in the country.The Cuiab?? plant opened in 1998 and employs about 70 people, some of whom will transfer to other Ball locations."Absorbing this one line-can plant into Ball's remaining network of 13 plants in...Read More

Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine hopes to achieve further improvements in safety, mining efficiencies and productivity, following the implementation of BME’s AXXIS centralised blasting system across its underground operation.The system was officially launched last week.AdvertisementThe AXXIS system, installed at the Cullinan mine in December last year, was designed and developed by BME in...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sierra Leone's Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources (MMMR) and the National Minerals Agency (NMA) reported that a 144.12 carat diamond was brought to the Precious Minerals Trading Department of the NMA for valuation and certification. Consistent with International best practice for diamond valuation under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, the NMA conducted a tripa...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves for the start of the North American day on Thursday July 5.Base metals on the London Metal Exchange ticked higher across the board during morning trading with lead prices climbing by 1.7% after a fresh 15,000 tonne cancelation in Antwerp. Here's how base metals prices look at 12:12pm London time:Read our live futures report here."With the LME nearby sp...Read More

(IDEX Online) - ALROSA sold 121 gem-quality special size rough diamonds (weighing over 10.8 carats) with a total weight of 2,000 carats at an international auction in Vladivostok last month for $17 million. Companies from Belgium, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States participated in the auction. "The results of the last auction once again confirm...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers' decision to sell synthetic diamond jewelry raises important issues that are fundamental to the future of the natural diamond industry. Let us begin by analyzing the role of De Beers in the diamond industry. Until about 2000 and the advent of their "Supplier of Choice" program, De Beers was the custodian of diamonds. They maintained rough diamond prices by buying excess suppli...Read More

GFG Alliance, the parent company of international metals group Liberty House, has acquired the freehold and cargo-handling services of Bird Port in Newport, South Wales, UK, it said on Thursday July 5.Bird Port, which will be renamed SIMEC Bird Port following completion of the deal, handles cargoes totaling as much as 800,000 tonnes per year, mainly steel and bulk products. The port is also used b...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Stornoway Diamond Corporation reported that it commenced remobilization of staff to the Renard mine as of July 4 following a suspension of operations due to a forest fire near the mine. "Over the last 48 hours, rainfall and a shifting of the prevailing winds have allowed the principal fires south of the Clarence and Abel Swallow Airport to be contained, allowing for the safe trans...Read More

RAPAPORT... A company in Sierra Leone has obtained and exported a 144.12-caratrough diamond worth at least $600,000, authorities in the west African nationsaid Tuesday. A licensed diamond exporter brought the stone to theprecious-minerals trading department of the National Minerals Agency (NMA) lastweek for valuation, the NMA and the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources(MMMR) reported. The NMA...Read More

LSE-listed Petra Diamonds and its black economic empowerment partners plan to sell their 75.9% interest in the Kimberley Epaka Mining (KEM) joint venture (JV) to JV partner Ekapa Mining for about R300-million.The KEM JV incorporates the Kimberley Underground mine, extensive tailings retreatment programmes and the high-volume Central Treatment Plant, near Kimberley, South Africa.AdvertisementPetra...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Firestone Diamonds plc, whose operations are focused in Lesotho, has appointed Patrick Meier to its board as a non-executive director, effective immediately. Meier has 25 years of experience in mining, and is currently Chairman of Anglo Pacific Group plc.  Between 1982 and 2014, Patrick spent his career with Royal Bank of Canada (Europe) Limited, latterly as Head of European I...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has graded a5.01-carat lab-grown diamond that, its producer claims, is the largest pinksynthetic diamond in the world. New York-based Unique Lab Grown Diamond created the stone usingchemical vapor deposition (CVD). The square-radiant-shaped, fancy intensepinkish-orange synthetic stone has the equivalent of SI clarity, the GIA saidin a lab note...Read More

Turkish billet import prices have gone down this week on sluggish demand, while domestic and export prices have remained largely stable, sources said on Thursday July 5.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for billet imports into Turkey was $520-530 per tonne cfr, down from last week's $530-540 per tonne.The downward movement in the assessment came after CIS suppliers lowered their offers to $...Read More

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has reported a 20% increase in production at its Lulo project, in Angola during the June quarter.The mine produced 5 058 ct of diamonds during the three months to June, up from the 4 203 ct produced in the previous corresponding period, with the total weight of special stones increasing by 18%, to 1 412 ct.AdvertisementThe numbe...Read More