(IDEX Online) - India's mothballed diamond mine at Majhgawan-Panna is due to resume production this July, with a forecast output of up to 84,000 carats a year.Work was halted at the country's only industrial mine at the end of December 2020 when environmental clearances lapsed following concerns from the nearby Panna Tiger Reserve.But the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC),...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Dutch government today (Wednesday 22 February) said new EU sanctions on Russia could include restrictions on diamond imports.A new package of measures is expected on Friday (24 February) to make the first anniversary of the invasion.A Customs update entitled New sanctions measures against Russia and Belarus (sanctions package 10) says (in translation) that the new package of sa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gold, platinum and diamond jewelry belonging to Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond International will be sold by liquidators in Mumbai, India, in an e-auction next month.The fugitive jeweler, aged 51, is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in an alleged $1.85bn fraud.No reserve price has yet been posted by liquidators Santa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Singapore-based IIa Technologies has won a long-running patent battle with Element Six Technologies, a De Beers company.The Court of Appeal in Singapore ruled that Element Six's highly technical patent concerning lab grown diamond production was not sufficiently clear and was therefore unenforceable.It said even a skilled person would not understand whether or not they had inf...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Plans for a new De Beers diamond mine in Canada's Nunavut territory are to go to a public review.The UK-based miner acquired the Chidliak Project, on the vast and sparsely populated Baffin Island, when it bought Peregrine Diamonds in September 2018 for C$107m.It plans to implement its FutureSmart Mining vision, including the use of drones, airships, remote mining and operation...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds today reported a 20 per cent dip in sales for the first half of fiscal 2023 and a net loss of $17.6m.The London-based miner made a profit of $49.1m during the same period in 2022. Earlier this month it said it was open to merger and acquisition offers.It blamed the decrease in revenue - down from $264.7m in H1 FY 2022 to $212.1m in H1 FY 20203 - largely on zero...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers says the long-standing agreement, under which it sells 75 per cent of Botswana's rough diamonds, will survive the current turmoil.A company spokesman told Reuters this week it was "confident that our successful partnership will continue".Two weeks ago the country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi told crowds at a rally of his ruling party that he would walk away from...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive Indian diamond merchant Jatin Mehta has failed in a bid to halt legal proceedings against him in a British court over allegations that he defrauded lenders out of $1bn.Mehta (pictured) had sought to have the case heard in India instead. He and his family were found to be living in London last year.He is accused of defrauding15 lenders out of the $1bn lent to his companies...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) has reported a 17 per cent increase in rough and polished trade last year, up to $37.4bn.DDE, founded in 2002 as part of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), said last February that it had overtaken Antwerp as the top trading hub globally for rough diamonds - over $22.8bn in 2021 - and "looks to become the largest diamond trade hub for rough a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The G7 nations and the 27 EU countries are reported to be discussing ways to track Russian diamonds.A statement could be issued this week, according to a Bloomberg news report, although implementation of such a system would be complex and time-consuming.The USA imposed sanctions shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago, but the EU has resisted calls to do likewise, as...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Bharat Diamond Week (BDW) returns in April for the first time in three years.More than 200 large and medium diamond manufacturers, lab growns among them, will be exhibiting at the three-day "only diamond" event in Mumbai, India."The entire diamond sector is going through a tough phase and economic volatility looms large on various economies," said Anoop Mehta, president o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Australian miner Lucapa has reported further positive results from bulk sampling at its Lulo mine, in Angola.It recovered 23 diamond with a total of weight of 16.32 carats from one of the two kimberlites it's exploring (L164). The largest was 2.38 carats and average size was 0.71 carats.It also recovered 13 diamonds, total weight 7.85 carats, from a second kimberlite (L056), a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Police believe the South American Theft Group (SATG) - a sophisticated crime gang - was responsible for planting a secret surveillance camera outside the home of a jeweler in North Jersey, USA.Footage from the jeweler's own security camera shows two men placing camera equipment and a battery pack in a bush outside their house.The SATG is known to carry out surveillance work to...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tensions between India's two biggest diamond-buying nations - China and the USA - could make matters even worse for Surat's 4,000 manufacturing units, following the "balloon incident".Many are already working at just 60 per cent capacity, with staff paid only for the days they work, and an estimated 20,000 laid off altogether as orders dry up."We do not know how the geopo...Read More
(IDEX Online) - This is the all-red $94,000 diamond-encrusted Jacob & Co. watch that Rhianna chose to pair with the all-red ensemble she chose for her Super Bowl halftime performance.The Brilliant Skelton Northern Lights timepiece has an 18K rose gold case polished and is pave set with 323 round white diamonds ( 11.26 ct.). It has a red mineral crystal dial and a red alligator strap.The pregna...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A gang of armed "Rolex rippers" were caught after posing for pictures of themselves wearing the stolen watches.Police in London recovered the gloating selfies from a cell phone left behind after two suspects abandoned a stolen BMW after a high-speed chase and ran off. They and their accomplices were identified from pictures on the phone.Six men were found guilty of spree of v...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Five people were hurt when a light aircraft owned by Zimbabwe diamond miner RZM Murowa crash-landed as it transported a parcel of rough gems under armed guard, according to local media reports.The pilot of the twin-engine Piper 31 NAVAJO is said to be in a critical condition with head injuries after the incident on farmland near the town of Chivhu, in the center of the countr...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dozens of diamond traders in Surat have been reunited with almost $1m of goods that were fraudulently taken by a broker without payment. Thirty-two victims handed over diamonds to a trusted broker on 27 January, in many cases without receiving payment. He'd worked as broker for seven years and his father before him was a broker for 25 years. He switched of...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Billionaire Johann Rupert remains the second wealthiest man in Africa, and Nicky Oppenheimer is still number three, according to Forbes' newly-published rich list for 2023.But both men saw their personal and family fortunes dip slightly in a year when the S&P All Africa index plunged by 20 per cent, only to stage a dramatic final-quarter recovery.Rupert, 72, chairman...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gemfields has again been forced to evacuate workers amid ongoing violence in Mozambique.It follows an attack blamed on Islamic State-linked insurgents at a village 15km from a site where a site of ruby exploration.Gemfields, the UK-based gemstone miner, was forced to halted operations at its Montepuez ruby mine, and to evacuate the site last October after another attack by rebels o...Read More