(IDEX Online) - Signet Jewelers, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, will become the first chain to join De Beers' pilot of an end-to-end diamond blockchain program called Tracr, the miner announced. Tracr is being developed by De Beers in collaboration with the diamond industry. "Signet will join the growing list of industry leaders trialing the platform during its...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co. reported that worldwide net sales rose 15% which, combined with a higher operating margin and a lower effective tax rate, resulted in a 53% increase in net earnings its financial results for the three months ended April 30. Based on these strong and better-than-expected results, management revised upward its outlook for the full year ending January 31, 201...Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds plans to sell stock to shareholders in a bidto raise $178 million and pay off its debt, it said Thursday. The miner will issue 332.8 million new shares for $0.54 (GBP0.40) each, a steep discount to Wednesday's closing stock price of $1.02 (GBP0.76). Shareholders will have the right to buy five shares at the reduced pricefor every eight shares they already own. Petra will...Read More
RAPAPORT... Attendeesat this year's annual American Gem Society Conclave, which took place April 23to 25 at the Omni Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, received an intense educationcovering a wide spectrum of industry issues, from lab-grown diamonds to salesdata and training. John Carter, CEO and president of Jack Lewis Jewelers in Bloomington,Illinois, and newly named president of the American Gem So...Read More
RAPAPORT... The sale of A. Jaffe's assets to Parag Diamonds is off forthe time being.The "sale motion" - a proposal to auction off A. Jaffe - has been withdrawn, according to a court notice the company's lawyers filed last week. Parag, also known as Paramount Gems, won the bid to acquire the assets earlier this month for $8 million. A New York bankruptcy judge put the sale on hold becaus...Read More
Signet Jewelers will become the first retailer to join De Beers Group's end-to-end diamond blockchain pilot programme, known as Tracr.Tracr aims to complete the first digital link all the way from diamond production through to retail.AdvertisementIt is being developed by De Beers, with support from BCG Digital Ventures, and is expected to launch later this year.A Signet project team will work...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rapaport's Senior Analyst, Avi Krawitz, spoke at the recent Carat+ show in Antwerp, assessing the current state of the diamond market. Here's a chance to watch the full presentation.Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Petra Diamonds’ share price on the LSE fell by more than 20% on Thursday after it announced plans to raise $178-milion, or about £133-million, through a fully underwritten 5 for 8 rights issue.The diamond miner, which has operations in South Africa and Tanzania, said its cash flow generation over the last two years has been impaired by a combinat...Read More
VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Absent any significant global economic disturbances disrupting consumer diamond demand, incremental year-on-year diamond production declines are forecast to drive real diamond prices up by about 10% cumulatively from 2018 through 2021, or 17% in nominal terms, a new report by independent analyst Paul Zimnisky states.Further, supporting supply dynamics favourabl...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has partneredwith Chow Tai Fook on a pilot program that will use blockchain to deliverdigital diamond-grading reports. The GIA will create a permanent and immutable record fordiamonds from the jewelry retailer's "T Mark" brand, the organizations said in ajoint statement Wednesday. The platform will begin in a selection of Chow TaiFook's Hong K...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry group Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group and the GIA are to use blockchain technology to deliver secure, digital diamond grading reports to consumers for the first time, the GIA said. Clients of Chow Tai Fook's diamond brand, CHOW TAI FOOK T MARK (T MARK), will receive a permanent and immutable blockchain record of their diamond's GIA grading information. This inn...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Chamber of Mines has rebranded and is now the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) in line with its quest to reposition the sector as South Africa’s preeminent industrial sector, while building a new legacy and creating a “future that all South African can be proud of”, MCSA president Mxolisi Mgojo announced on Wednesday.He reveal...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. raised its sales outlook for the year after higher spending in the US and Asia drove a 15% jump in revenue during the first fiscal quarter.Revenue rose to $1.03 billion year on year for the three months ending April 30, while comparable store sales - at branches open for at least a year - climbed 10%, it said Wednesday. Based on that, the company now expects global sa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa Diamond Company Limited has found a 25-carat yellow diamond at the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho. Significantly, the gem-quality Special was recovered from the Neck Zone of the Mothae kimberlite, which is not part of the current +1 million carat JORC resource, the miner said. "The diamond was recovered within the first two days of trial processing through...Read More
De Beers Groups’ Forevermark brand has launched Libert’aime by Forevermark – a new flagship store in Shanghai, China.This is the one-thousandth Forevermark store in China and comes as the brand celebrates its ten-year anniversary in the country.AdvertisementLibert’aime by Forevermark offers a diamond jewellery range created to celebrate the spirit of a new generation of wom...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds Limited has recovered a 115-carat, top white color, Type IIa diamond from the Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world. It is the ninth diamond weighing more than 100 carats recovered so far this year, which already exceeds the total number of diamonds of over 100 carats recovered in 2017. Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies, which supplies equipment to diamondmanufacturers, saw revenue rise in the first quarter, driven by increased salesof its Galaxy system in India. Group revenue for the period grew 2% year on year to $16.7million, the Israel-based company reported last week. Sales to India, itslargest market, rose 4% to $13.5 million, outweighing a 42% drop in sales toEurope, which a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. has announced the completion of the winter drilling program at the Kennady North Project. The 100%-owned Kennady North Project was recently acquired through a business combination with Kennady Diamonds Inc. Three drill rigs have been active on the program, with one drill dedicated to delineation drilling on Faraday 2, a second drill de...Read More
RAPAPORT... Russian miner Alrosa has reopened its New York office,holding its first auction in two years at the branch.The company sold 1,040 carats for $10.4 millionat the auction of rough diamonds weighing 10.8 carats or more, it reported Tuesday. A total of 50 companies took part in the sale from April23 to May 11, including firms from the US, Belgium, India, Israel and theUnited Arab Emirates....Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has upgraded its expectations for theMothae mine in Lesotho after recovering a 25-carat yellow diamond at the asset. The miner found the stone in the "neck zone," a part of the minethat it had not accounted for in its resource estimate, the company saidTuesday. Lucapa also found a 6-carat diamond while carrying out trialprocessing of material from that area. The...Read More