(IDEX Online) - ALROSA sold $1.032 billion of rough diamonds in the first two months of this year, with sales of almost $533 million in February.   "In February, the core diamond markets were quite strong," said ALROSA Deputy CEO Yury Okoemov. "The diamond cutting sector continues replenishing stocks. Demand for diamond products was also backed up by good jewelry sales in China on the eve of...Read More

As Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) releases its full year results on Thursday the attentions will be on cash flow generation, with investors waiting to see the pay-off from the group's recent production growth thanks to the introduction of the Catcher field.Premier's production amounted to around 75,000 boepd during 2017, and Investec analyst Brian Gallagher is expecting 2018 output to come in at 82,000...Read More

CAPE TOWN – South Africa's future is looking "a lot more positive" since President Cyril Ramaphosa succeeded scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma last month, Anglo American's Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said on Wednesday.Mining companies and South Africa's government have been at loggerheads for years over legislation that the industry warns could deter investment by changing t...Read More

RAPAPORT... BSG Resources, diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz's mining company, has entered administration, meaningcontrol of the group has been given to practitioners responsible for tryingto rescue the business. Malcolm Cohen and William Callewaert of BDO arethe court-appointed joint administrators, the advisory firm said Tuesday. They aretasked with operating in the creditors' best interests, with a...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May defended Britain’s links to defense and security ally Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for lunch at the start of a high profile visit to London.A fiery exchange in parliament between May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn underlined tension in Britain over Princ...Read More

Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) is having an extraordinary year so far as the small miner continues to find precious rocks bigger than 100 carats at its flagship Let??eng mine in Lesotho.On Wednesday, the England-based company said it had dug up a 152-carat, top white colour type IIa diamond, the sixth major find so far this year.In contrast, it discovered only seven diamonds bigger tha...Read More

Coal shipments from Australia's metallurgical coal hub of Queensland fell 4.4% on the year in February. Ports in the Australian state shipped 15.98 million tonnes of coal - including some thermal coal - last month, compared with 16.71 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the latest data...Read More

SHANGHAI, Mar 7 (SMM) –Copper: The support at the 40-day moving average, or 52,000 yuan/mt, remained for SHFE copper, while destocking in China helped the bullish sentiment somewhat. We expect copper prices to go up further with SHFE 1805 at 52,500-53,000 yuan/mt today and LME copper at $6,960-7,020/mt. Spot discounts are expected to be smaller as sellers continued to hold on to their cargoe...Read More

(IDEX Online) - BSG Resources Ltd, a Guernsey-based holding company of Israeli diamond and mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz's international mining business, has been placed in administration.   Being placed in administration means being taken under the management of a court appointed administrator whose main aim is to leverage the company's assets and business to repay creditors as quickly a...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales soared 35% to $541.9 million in February,strengthened by significant demand ahead of the Chinese holiday season. "In February, the core diamond markets were quite strong," Yury Okoemov, deputy CEO, said Wednesday. "The diamond-cutting sector continues [to replenish] its stock. Demand for diamond products was also backed up bygood jewelry sales in China on the eve of the...Read More

(Note story contains language that may offend some readers)By Katharine HoureldNAIROBI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew to Ethiopia at the start of his first diplomatic trip to Africa on Wednesday, seeking to bolster security alliances on a continent increasingly turning to China for aid and trade.He was due to visit the African Union where many officials are still smarting f...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Russian diamond major Alrosa on Wednesday announced its latest diamond sales results and also reported on geological prospecting developments, including the reorganisation of its exploration unit.The company, which produces the world’s most diamonds in terms of volume, said that it had sold $541.9-million worth of rough and polished diamonds in Februar...Read More

"The sale of The World's Most Expensive Dinner by World of Diamonds Group to V Diamonds has been canceled by a mutual decision of the companies, and World of Diamonds Group remains the sole owner of the ring and the $2 Million Dinner experience. The token sale planned by V Diamonds is canceled, and all the pre-subscriptions to the token sale will be refunded back to the participants," reads a medi...Read More

Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil (CRC) in the EU have been largely unchanged over the past week because market activity has been slow, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday March 7."The majority of buyers have booked the volumes they needed and now prefer to wait and see where the market will move," a German trader said.Northern EuropeMetal Bulletin's weekly price assessment...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds Limited has recovered a 152-carat, top white color Type IIa diamond from the Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.   The latest find (pictured above) is the sixth diamond of over 100 carats recovered at the mine so far this year, the company said. Read More

RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, March 7, 2018, LasVegas... The Rapaport Group has released a Chinese version of Rapaport Academy'spopular online course - Fundamentals of Diamond Trading. In response to increasing demand fromChinese diamond trading professionals looking to increase their skills andbetter understand the global industry, the course was released in SimplifiedChinese at the Hong Kong March Sho...Read More

LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Wednesday that financial services should be at the heart of a new trade deal and the European Union should drop its tough stance on limiting the sector’s market access after Brexit.In a rebuff to Britain, the EU’s draft guidelines for a trade deal released on Wednesday will only offer financial services firms in London...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Junior miner Frontier Diamonds, which started trading on the ASX in January, has recovered the first diamonds from its Bellsbank kimberlite pipe exploration project, near its Sedibeng diamond mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.The diamonds were recovered from a sample that was treated as part of the hot commissioning of a tailings treatment...Read More

Representatives from the community-based organization Marange Development Trust appeared before Zimbabwe's Parliament to denounce that people in the Marange diamond fields are experiencing worse living conditions now that the Zimbabwe Consolidated Mining Company is in charge of the area.According to Chairman Malvern Mudiwa, the different kinds of abuses that villagers have been enduring for decade...Read More

Prices for domestic mesh-quality wire rod produced and delivered in Europe remained flat this week, with the market being underpinned by healthy lead times, sources said."Stocks are low, there is not much material around and the 'good' season is coming," one Southern European mill source said on Wednesday March 7.A Northern European producer source agreed, adding that his mill was...Read More