(IDEX Online) - De Beers today (30 August) announced rough sales of just $370m during cycle 7, the lowest figure since the Covid pandemic.Sales slumped to $355m in March 2020, the last cycle before lockdowns forced De Beers to suspend its Gaborone sights. When they resumed in September sales were $334m.Today's announcement suggests there's no end in sight to the caution that has long dom...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A passenger arriving in Mumbai on a flight from Dubai was caught trying to smuggle $180,000 of diamonds inside a packet of tea.The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department said 34 diamonds, with a total weight of 1,559.68 carats, were concealed in eight pouches.The suspect, a 30-year-old Indian resident, was arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fishers are mounting a legal challenge to marine diamond operations off South Africa's west coast.They claim rights to mine in shallow sea and along an 85km coastal strip of land were granted and subsequently renewed without proper consultation.Their court action, due to begin today (29 August) at Western Cape High Court, is being opposed by Trans Hex Operations, which has mar...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Speculation is mounting that the G7 nations will finally announce sanctions on Russian diamonds in September, 19 months after the invasion of Ukraine.They could be implemented, backed by a traceability solution, next January, after the all-important holiday season, according to a New York Times report.Brad Brooks-Rubin, senior adviser in the Office of Sanctions Coordination i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An advertising watchdog has told a US jewelry online retailer it must use appropriate terms to describe the origin of its diamonds.The Natural Diamond Council (NDC), which promotes mined diamonds, had challenged the way Agape Diamonds marketed its lab grown stones.Agape, based in Tampa, Florida, subsequently made modifications, but not to the full satisfaction of the NDC.The...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Inmates at an Indian jail are cutting and polishing diamonds behind bars.It's common for prisoners to work in laundries or kitchens, in sewing or agriculture. But those at Lajpore Central Jail, in Surat, are believed to be the only ones in the world working with diamonds.Just over 100 of the prison's 3,000 inmates work at the polishing unit, according to the Times of Indi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sotheby's Hong Kong is to auction one of the world's largest and most valuable blue diamonds, with an estimate of $26m to $37m.The Infinite Blue, an 11.28-carat radiant-cut fancy vivid blue stone, will be offered for sale in a single-lot live auction on 5 October.The Type IIb gem is set with a halo of pink and white trapezoid diamonds. Sotheby's said in an Insta...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has stockpiled 300,000 carats of diamonds since new rules were introduced last October, requiring miners to pay half their government royalties in raw minerals.The move, designed to maintain the value of the country's assets by building up a national reserve of precious metals and stones, was introduced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictur...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Federal prosecutors in the USA have filed documents to seize 35 more diamonds, a number of artworks and sculptures and $2m in cash from Nazem Said Ahmad, alleged financier of the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.In April OFAC, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted 52 individuals and entities which, it said, had been supplying cash, precious...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Police in Brazil have raided the addresses of two aides to the former president, over claims they sold high-value jewelry gifts from foreign governments for cash.Proceeds of the sales were, allegedly, then passed on to Jair Bolsonaro, who lost last October's election to left wing rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.A Federal Police said a lawyer and former aide were "suspect...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Petra sold $79.3m of rough this month, after cancelling its last tender because of weak demand.The UK-based miner today said it sold a total of 696,000 carats, including 75,900 carats that were unsold at its May tender, and the 380,000 carats that would have been sold at the cancelled tender in June.Sales in August (Tender 1 FY 2024) were almost double those in May ($42.1m)."The ex...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The new Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) has officially been recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest office building in existence."The sprawling complex boasts an incredible 659,611 m ? (7.1 million sq. ft) of floor space, spanning 35 acres of land, surpassing the USA's Pentagon as the world's largest office building," says Guinness in an announcement on Tuesday (22...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds saw its revenue from rough sales at Letseng, in Lesotho, down 19 per cent to $71.6m in the first half of this year.The UK-based miner blamed the ongoing downturn, fewer recoveries of high-value diamonds, and power outages interrupting ore processing.Letseng, known as the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world, saw average prices fall 22 per cent...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry store workers were treated for breathing difficulties and stinging eyes after they were pepper-sprayed during a raid.Police in Philadelphia, USA, are hunting four men who used a sledgehammer to smash display cases at Javier the Jeweler, at the Philadelphia Mills mall.They say the pepper spray used was "highly concentrated" and they evacuated the mall following the att...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Nirav Modi, the one-time diamond billionaire, now has less than $3 in his company bank account.Firestar Diamond International Pvt. Ltd. (FDIPL) has a balance of just Rs 236 ($2.85) according to a Times of India report, after Kotak Mahindra Bank transferred almost $300,000 to pay income tax debts.Modi, 51, (pictured) is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gemstone educator Gem-A has issued a warning over "diamond solitaire rings" that are being mailed, apparently randomly, to people in the UK and northern Europe. It's almost certainly a scam, but nobody, least of all Gem-A, is quite sure how it works.The organization, which provides gemology and diamond education in 26 countries but does not sell jewelry, said it was "baff...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India suffered another steep decline in gross exports of polished diamonds during July, down just over 39 per cent to $1.17bn.Ongoing weak demand had a more severe impact than June, when year-on-year exports slid by 31 per cent. Foreign sales during May appeared to show some recovery with a more moderate fall of 17.5 per cent.Gross imports of rough diamonds were down by 21 per cent...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond mines in Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT) are still operating, as wildfires continue to rage, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.Yellowknife, the territories' capital, is home to many of the workers employed at the region's three remote fly in-fly out mines on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Thirty per cent of De Beers workforce at...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Israel's diamond trade suffered another month of severe decline in July, with rough imports down by 46 per cent and exports down by 44 per cent."The global diamond industry is still in crisis," said Ofir Gore, diamond controller at the country's Ministry of Economy and Industry.Net imports of rough diamonds to Israel were $661m for January to July, a decrease of 45 per ce...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has announced another huge diamond - a 692.3-ct Type IIa high white gem - just two weeks after the recovery of a 1,080-ct stone.Both are from the Karowe mine, in Botswana, which the Canadian miner has operated since 2012. Lucara says the diamond measure 46.5mm x 40.7mm x 28.4 mm. It is the fourth +300-ct diamond recovered this year and the 20th +100-ct.Earlier thi...Read More