RAPAPORT... A 20.47-carat flawless diamond ring was the top seller atChristie's Magnificent Jewels auction in New York on Tuesday.The old-mine, brilliant-cut, D-color, type IIa piece soldfor $2.7 million. Its pre-sale estimate was $2.5 million to $3.5 million.Another top lot was a heart-shaped, 15.36-carat diamond pendantnecklace by Leviev, which fetched $1.6 million, exceeding its pre-sale estima...Read More
The Kimberley Process (KP) intercessional, which will take place from June 18 to 22 in Antwerp, Belgium, will focus on proposed reforms in the certification system to help achieve ambitious goals in the global diamond industry.This year, the European Union is chairing the KP and India is serving as the vice-chair.Advertisement“This year, in addition to serving as vice-chair, India is chairin...Read More
Brazil's President Michel Temer issued Tuesday two decrees introducing key changes to the country's 50-year-old mining regulations, aimed at making the local industry more competitive and sustainable.The changes, announced by MINING.com last week, seek drawing investment to the sector while implementing rules on the collection of higher mining royalties and their distribution.Mining is regulated i...Read More
RAPAPORT... Phillips, together with its partner Bacs & Russo, hasappointed James Marks as international watch specialist to oversee thedepartment's sourcing efforts, the auction house said Monday. Marks (pictured) comes from a finance background, andwas most recently a portfolio manager for a commodity hedge fund. He has been amember of the timepiece community for many years, primarily focusin...Read More
RAPAPORT... Global store openings helped fuel a jump in revenue and profit at Graff Diamonds International last year, according to the luxury jeweler's latest financials. Sales rose 22% to $692.8 million in 2017, while profit morethan tripled to $52.1 million, last week's filing showed. The London-basedretailer saw UK sales slide 9% to $31.3 million, while revenue from the rest ofits global n...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields recorded record revenue of $71.8 million at its June ruby auction in Singapore, thecolored-gemstone supplier said Monday. The miner sold588,656 carats of rough, untreated rubies from the Montepuez mine in Mozambique, at an average price of $122 per carat, with 95% of lots finding buyers. "The health ofmarket demand for Mozambican rubies...is amply demonstrated by theserecord-...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe's former president Robert Mugabe will not be summoned before parliament to answer questions about diamond mining operations during his time in office and the fate of huge revenues not received by the government, according to reports. The country's lawmakers have backed down from demanding that Mugabe appear before them to answer questions in what would have bee...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Angola's Catoca, the world's fifth largest diamond mine, lost an estimated $464 million over the past six years due to a government-imposed marketing system that saw the diamonds allegedly sold to politically connected figures close to former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Angola's production is sold via state-owned diamond marketing firm Sodiam, which decides on th...Read More
HARARE – Zimbabwe's parliament on Monday backed down from its demand for former President Robert Mugabe to answer questions related to diamond mining operations during his time in office.In what would have been his first public appearance since being ousted in a de facto military coup in November, parliament had wanted to question Mugabe about his pronouncements that the state had been d...Read More
LUANDA – Angola's Catoca, the world's fifth largest diamond mine, estimates it lost $464-million over the past six years due to a government-imposed marketing system that obliged it to sell production below international prices, a company presentation seen by Reuters showed.The figure was presented during a private meeting in March between the diamond industry and the minister for na...Read More
RAPAPORT... Polished-diamond imports to the US rose 1% to $5.29 billionin the first quarter, according to government data. By volume, polished imports slid 7% to 2.3 million carats,while the average price of imports climbed 8% to $2,320 per carat. Polished exports, meanwhile, jumped 10% to $5.05 billion,causing net polished imports - the excess of imports over exports - to slide63% to $247 million...Read More
RAPAPORT... China has reduced import duty on 18 jewelry categories byreclassifying them as everyday consumer goods, according to the GuangzhouDiamond Exchange.The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has cutthe rate by an average of 68% across those categories, Liang Weizhang, generalmanager of the bourse, told Rapaport News Sunday. The new rates will go into effect on July 1."This is th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at specialist jewelry stores in the US increased 14%year on year to $2.49 billion in March, according to data from the nation'sCensus Bureau. The rise in revenue - which is not adjusted for seasonalfluctuation - comes despite a 2% drop in consumer confidence for themonth, according to the Conference Board, an economic data provider. Thatmeasure had hit an 18-year high in February...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant is engaging with companies on local value-addition opportunities in zinc and platinum-catalysed fuel cells, and would like mining companies to make these and other locally mined commodities available at developmental prices to facilitate economic-growth-generation through local beneficiation.Oliphant, who wa...Read More
RAPAPORT... Two men stole a 20-carat diamond from an exhibitor's boothat the JCK Las Vegas trade show, the Jewelers' Security Alliance (JSA) saidlast week. The men (pictured) were able to slide open an unlockeddisplay case on June 2 while employees were not looking, the organization alleged. One man then sat down at thebooth and began speaking with an employee, while the second placed a catalog on...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers' decision to launch a laboratory-grown diamond jewelry brand called Lightbox was likely prompted by a desire to create clear segmentation of the lab-grown and mined diamond industries to protect its revenues from the mined diamond business, ABN Amro Bank says in a report. "Gem-quality laboratory-grown diamonds threaten the business case of miners," the bank wro...Read More
The implementation of enabling mining policies by government is key in safeguarding the South African diamond industry from further decline and a worrying contraction, says Global Diamond Network consultant Dr John Bristow.Bristow states that the local diamond mining industry is experiencing a “notable” decline in production, caused predominantly by unfriendly mineral policy and a nega...Read More
Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds and an independent engineering consultant have evaluated the crushing circuit at the Kareevlei mine, in Kimberley, in the Northern Cape.The two parties have been evaluating the crushing circuit and implementing changes to optimise mining performance as the company looks to build production and start openpit mining at its second kimberlite pipe, KV01.AdvertisementA faul...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales at specialist jewelry stores in the US increased 14%year on year to $2.49 billion in March, according to data from the nation'sCensus Bureau. The rise in revenue - which is not adjusted for seasonalfluctuation - comes despite a 2% drop in consumer confidence for themonth, according to the Conference Board, an economic data provider. Thatmeasure had hit an 18-year high in February...Read More
RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished-diamond exports rose in May, according todata from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). Polished exports increased 5% year on year to $1.18 billionand, by volume, grew 4% to 439,380 carats. The average price climbed 1% to$2,688 per carat. The jump was mainly due to a 6% rise in shipments to the USto $438.8 million and a 22% surge in exports to India to $58.6 mil...Read More