Private capital tracker Preqin says in an report, that contrary to expectations, 2018 was another bumper year for the industry, particularly for natural resources investments.Fundraising by unlisted funds for investment in natural resources - oil and gas, timberland, farmland, water and mines - set a fresh record in 2018, totalling $93 billion, and is likely to top $100 billion as more data become...Read More
During her opening address at the 6th Forum of the Africa-Belgium Business Week, Marie-Chantal Kaninda, executive director of the World Diamond Council, told global leaders that expanding the scope of the Kimberley Process to include issues related to human rights and labor relations will help create conditions in which Sub-Saharan Africa's artisanal diamond miners can meet their economic potentia...Read More
The Executive Council of Macau has developed a proposal for legislation that, if approved by the territory’s Legislative Assembly, would see Macau joining the Kimberley Process Certification System. This was stated in an official communiqué, the Macauhub News Agency has reported. Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), located on t...Read More
The story of how two prospectors, down to their last nickels, discovered diamonds in Canada's frozen north is the stuff of legend.Back in 1982, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson laid low in a pup tent by day while their competitor De Beers hauled 45-gallon drums of rock samples to a nearby outpost for transport to South Africa. Using the long hours of summer sunlight north of the 65th parallel, the...Read More
Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) said Thursday it had concluded drilling on the Frischgewaagt and Hartbeesfontein farms, which form part of its Thorny River diamond project in South Africa.The next step, the miner said, is to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to start the bulk sampling program, which is expected during the second quarter of the year.Botswana Diamonds has also finished refurbis...Read More
Australia's Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) said Thursday it had signed funding and refinancing arrangements that will allow it to reduce debt related to developing its recently commissioned Mothae mine in Lesotho, South Africa.The diamond producer has inked deals with New Azilian and Equigold, following the delivery and de-risking of Mothae, which began commercial production in December."These new r...Read More
Polished market slow, with stableUS demand supporting the trade. Dealers under pressure as polished prices continueto soften. 1 ct. RAPI -0.5% in 1Q. Rough-market sentiment weak amid reports DeBeers is reducing 2019 supply. Manufacturers hoping reduced rough sales willease liquidity concerns. Signet 2018 sales -0.1% to $6.3B, loss of $690M vs.profit of $486M. Chow Sang Sang 2018 revenue +13% to $2...Read More
Sentiment subdued amid reducedbank credit and tight rough-to-polished profit margins. Manufacturers loweringproduction in an effort to deplete inflated inventories and in anticipation oflower De Beers rough offerings. Good demand for nice-quality SIs, which are inshort supply. Buyers sensing midstream pressures and pushing for deeperdiscounts. Dealers focused on US, hoping for stronger 2Q restocki...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers is shutting its diamond-recycling division, as digital advancements in the sector have lessened the need for its services. The International Institute of Diamond Valuation (IIDV) wasset up in 2016 to repurchase and recycle diamond jewelry that consumers no longerwanted. De Beers began the operation after noting the difficulty consumersfaced in trying to sell their jewelry at a...Read More
An Angolan delegation led by President Joao Lourenco has arrived in Moscow for a four-day visit. The Russian publication Kommersant wrote that "although this is the Angolan leader's first visit to Russia in this capacity, he does have first-hand knowledge about the Russian capital, since he studied at the Military-Political Academy here in 1978-1982. While attending the Russia-Angola business foru...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company hassigned a new refinancing agreement that will allow it to reduce its debts and further develop its Mothae mine in Lesotho. New Azilian will give theminer a one-year loan of $7 million, some of which it will put toward repayinga loan to Equigold ahead of schedule. That loan was taken out in 2017. Lucapa will also use thefunds from New Azilian as working ca...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's failed to find a buyer for three blue diamonds at its Hong Kong auction Tuesday. A cut-cornered, rectangular step-cut, fancy-vivid blue, 3.32-carat diamondring, valued at $5.9 million to $7.6million, was left unsold. The center stone was set between two trilliant-cut diamonds.Two cut-cornered, rectangular, modified brilliant-cut stones also failed to attract a buyer at t...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified mining company Anglo American is implementing new techniques that give the company far more control over its tailings dams, which have been thrown into the spotlight after the tragic loss of life at Brumadinho, in Brazil, where an iron-ore tailings dam collapsed at Vale’s Corrego do Feijao mine earlier this year killing hundreds of people....Read More
In her address to the 6th Forum of the Africa-Belgium Business Week, held in the Belgian town of Genval, Marie-Chantal Kaninda, Executive Director of World Diamond Council (WDC), expressed the WDC's optimism that Central African Republic (CAR) will soon be able to resume the unrestricted export of rough diamonds, supported by the Kimberley Process Certification System, and help turn the CAR...Read More
CEDEX, a blockchain-based trading platform for diamonds, said that ahead of its launch its diamond exchange-traded fund (ETF), it had secured more than 6,000 diamonds, worth some $50 million. The diamonds will provide traders with a variety of investment options prior to the launch of the fund. Quoting a lack of transparency, liquidity and fungibility as the reasons why diamonds have not become a...Read More
Lucapa Diamond Company and the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho announced that yet another 50+ carat rough diamond - this time a 55-carat top color stone- had been recovered from its new 1.1 Mtpa Mothae kimberlite plant in Lesotho. The stone is the fifth +50 carat diamond recovered to date from the new Mothae mine, where commercial production commenced in January 2019 following the commission...Read More
Expanding the scope of the Kimberley Process (KP) to include issues related to human rights and labour relations, as is being advocated by the World Diamond Council (WDC), will help create conditions in which Sub-Saharan Africa's artisanal diamond miners can meet their economic potential, and so support the development of their countries' economies, says WDC executive director Marie-Chanta...Read More
Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds has completed the intensification drilling programme on the Frischgewaagt and Hartbeesfontein farms, which form part of its Thorny River diamond dyke project, in South Africa.The intensification drilling programme comprised 33 holes and 1 282 m of drilling which, together with previous work, has resulted in a total drilled depth of 3 299 m in five areas on th...Read More
LONDON – The story of how two prospectors, down to their last nickels, discovered diamonds in Canada’s frozen north is the stuff of legend.Back in 1982, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson laid low in a pup tent by day while their competitor De Beers hauled 45-gallon drums of rock samples to a nearby outpost for transport to South Africa. Using the long hours of summer sunlight north of th...Read More
Vancouver-based Arctic Star Exploration has begun exploration at its 100% owned Timantti project in the northern part of Canada near the township of Kuusamo. The company has already located three diamondiferous bodies - White, Black and Grey Wolf - and three kimberlite dykes.Arctic Star says there is "considerable evidence" that there are additional kimberlites on its property. Indicator minerals...Read More