RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. reported a loss at its Karowe mine inthe third quarter, amid increased operating expenses and a weak market forsmaller stones. The company recorded a net loss of $4 million for the periodending September 30, compared to a profit of $5.1 million during the sameperiod the year before. Operating expenses grew 9% as the miner switched to anew contractor, it noted....Read More
RAPAPORT... Polished-diamond imports to Hong Kong declined 24% in the third quarter, according to Rapaport calculations based on data from the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China. Polished imports fell 12% in the first nine months of the year, the official figures showed. Hong Kong Trade Data for 3Q 2019Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, November5, 2019, Las Vegas ... Diamond trading improved in late October after variousJewish, Indian and Chinese holidays. Dealers are focused on filling holidayorders as US jewelers prepare inventory for the season. Shortages are supportingprices of nonfluorescent RapSpec A3+ goods. Polished prices stabilized in October.The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamon...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara Diamond Corp. has announced that plans to expand its 100-percent owned Karowe diamond mine is expected to double the mine's life to 2040. The miner also said the expansion would also generate "significant revenue and cashflow." "Lucara is highly encouraged by the results of the Karowe Underground feasibility study, which has outlined a much larger economic opportun...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Prices rough diamonds dropped 6 percent in the third quarter, Gem Diamonds reported today (Tuesday). Clifford Elphick, Gem Diamonds' CEO said the drop resulted from price pressure on high-value diamonds from the Let?... ?eng mine and lower value ore mined in the previous quarter.During the quarter, which ended September 30, the miner recovered four diamonds weighing over 100 c...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers cut diamond prices by about 5 percent across the board at its November Sight, which ends on November 8, Bloomberg reports. According to reports, the price of some of the cheaper diamonds were slashed by double digits. Other Sightholders claimed De Beers also downgraded assortments, although this has yet to be confirmed.While the results of the ninth Sight of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Figures released by the Gold Council today (Tuesday) show demand for gold jewelry fell 16 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, to its lowest level since 2010. Demand stood at 460.9 tons as consumers shied away from buying because of higher prices and subdued economic sentiment. However, it was not all bad news for the yellow metal. Demand in the U.S. grew for the eleve...Read More
The underground expansion at diamond miner Lucara Diamonds' 100%-owned Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana, is expected to not only double its mine life, but also generate significant revenue and cashflow until 2040.A feasibility study into the underground expansion has found that the adapted life-of-mine of an additional 15 years, including stockpiles, will produce 7.8-million carats of diamonds...Read More
The Lesotho government has renewed the mining lease for LSE-listed Gem Diamonds’ Letšeng mine, CEO Clifford Elphick confirmed on Tuesday.The terms of the renewed mining lease were agreed with the Lesotho Mining Board following a statutory negotiation process. The lease was renewed for an immediate period of ten years with exclusive rights granted to Letšeng to renew the mining...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has restated its estimation of global diamond-jewelry sales following a new study valuing the diamond content in jewelry purchases since the 2008 recession. The group also revised its production data to reflect lower output than previously believed, stemming from an overestimation of the artisanal mining sector. Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.4% to $76 billion in 2018, d...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Berkshire Hathawayincreased 5% to $4.04 billion in the third quarter, the company reportedSaturday. The improvement in the division, which includes jewelrychains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was buoyed in largepart by the company's car business, including sales of pre-owned vehicles,automotive financing, and repair work....Read More
RAPAPORT... Two gem labs have joined forces to identify a method for determining whether a pink diamond came from the Argyle mine in Australia, and are issuing lab reports confirming their provenance.Beginning in 2014, the team, led by Branko Deljanin,director and colored-diamond specialist at Canadian Gemlab (CGL), begancollecting natural pink diamonds from the mine in Western Australia...Read More
RAPAPORT... The diamond industry has much riding on this holiday season, having endured tough market conditions in 2019. While the trade reduced inventory levels in the third quarter, a large quantity of less popular items remain available. Meanwhile, US jewelry retailers are growing more conservative about buying inventory, taking more goods on memo and increasingly using technology to boost sale...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's New York has become embroiled in a dispute over the sale of a $40 million pink diamond known as The Princie Diamond. The diamond was sold by a member of the Qatari royal family in 2013.A lawsuit by Amedeo Angiolillo claims that the auction house sold the diamond despite his objections. As reported by The Telegraph, Christie's said that not only does Angiol...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Platinum Guild International (PGI) will host an e-commerce platform to create a destination for consumers looking to buy platinum jewelry. "The intent of this platform is to give designers an opportunity to share their platinum pieces directly with consumers, whom we know are interested in purchasing online," said Jenny Luker, PGI-USA's president. "By creating a dest...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has restated its estimation of global diamond-jewelry sales following a new study valuing the diamond content in jewelry purchases since the 2008 recession. The group also revised its production data to reflect lower output than previously believed, stemming from an overestimation of the artisanal mining sector. Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.4% to $76 billion in 2018, d...Read More
RAPAPORT... The diamond industry has much riding on this holiday season, having endured tough market conditions in 2019. While the trade reduced inventory levels in the third quarter, a large quantity of less popular items remain available. Meanwhile, US jewelry retailers are growing more conservative about buying inventory, taking more goods on memo and increasingly using technology to boost sale...Read More
De Beers is taking more drastic steps to stem the crisis in the diamond industry by cutting prices across the board for the first time in years.The company, the world’s biggest diamond producer, lowered prices by about 5% at its November sale, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.AdvertisementThe move is aimed at helping i...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong plummetedin September as ongoing protests and unrest in the municipality hit tourism andconsumption. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts dropped 41% year on year to HKD 3.63 billion ($463.6 million) during themonth, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Friday.That result was only...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Canadian Jewellers Association (CJA) has chosen MarcoMiserendino to serve a second one-year term as chairman of its board of directors. The vice president and managing director of Montreal-basedjewelry store Bijouterie Italienne was first elected to the board in 2018. Other members of the board include past co-chairman UmeshShah of RJB Diamonds and first vice chairwoman Gail...Read More