(IDEX Online) - Diamond tech firm Sarine has filed a series of lawsuits in and around Surat for alleged piracy of its mapping software.Raids were carried out at eight locations in India's cutting and polishing capital last Wednesday (18 May) after a court granted the company ex-parte orders.Sarine was unable to provide details, but said: "It is believed that the court commissioners were able...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jeweler Stephanie Gottlieb has created a one-off popcorn-shaped diamond engagement ring. The 3.66-carat VVS-clarity natural stone was specially cut from an 11-carat rough diamond and set in simple yellow gold "bathtub bezel".It is designed to intensify the hue of the stone, which has been graded as Y-Z - near to fancy yellow on the official GIA color scale."The idea was...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has recovered a 129-carat rough from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the miner's first stone over 100 carats this year.The high-quality, white diamond was recovered at the site over the weekend, Gem Diamonds said Monday. The company, which had been known for its recovery of large, high-quality stones, has seen output of those diamonds become more sluggish in the past year.In...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A rare Cartier art deco emerald and diamond bracelet is expected to fetch up to $1.25m when it is auctioned tomorrow at Bonhams New York.It was made in 1926 and belonged to the American heiress Helene Irwin Crocker Fagan (1887-1966), whose father William G. Irwin made his fortune from the sugar plantations of Hawaii.The bracelet (pictured) was designed as a graduated row of seven r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - High-value Type IIa diamonds have been found during explorations in Canada.Vancouver-based Arctic Star says analysis of a small sample - 12 stones over 0.3mm diameter - showed half were Type IIa.Only two per cent of diamonds globally are Type IIa - the most chemically pure, with no measurable nitrogen or boron impurities. Arctic Star drilled the Sequoia Kimberlite, on the Diag...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is heading for a bigger market share and an increase of almost 10 per cent in earnings this year, says Morgan Stanley, as sanctions continue to hit rival Russian exports.The UK-based miner is expected to earn $1.2bn before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), according to the investment management and financial services company. Last year's figu...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rapaport Group chairman Martin Rapaport will give a presentation on the loose-diamond and jewelry market at a conference hosted by the Accredited Gemologists Association (AGA).The event will take place in Las Vegas on June 9 prior to the JCK Las Vegas show, AGA said recently. In addition, David Block, the CEO of Sarine Technologies, will give a talk on artificial intelligence (AI) in d...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has begun pricing certain diamond scans according to stones' value rather than purely weight, enabling customers to put large but cheap goods through its machines at lower cost.Since the Israeli company launched the Galaxy systems in 2009, it has charged users based solely on the carat weight of the items they scanned, it explained in a statement Sunday.This pr...Read More
RAPAPORT... Steven Kaiser, longtime Swiss watch specialist and CEO of Kennedy North America, died suddenly on May 20 at the age of 68.Kaiser's love of timepieces began in 1993, when he took a job as president of luxury Swiss watch brand Baume & Mercier. He spent 16 years at the company, eventually becoming CEO, a spokesperson for his family and colleagues said Sunday. In 2000, after two years...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Richemont has lost $177m from its withdrawal from Russia.But the Swiss-based company, that counts Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-leCoultre and Piaget among its 26 maisons, still saw operating profits more than double for the year to 31 March 2022.It said suspending its commercial activities in Russia accounted for less than two per cent of total sales.Richemont's jewe...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India could hugely increase its lab grown diamond production to support a "stronger and more self-reliant domestic cutting and polishing industry," says the GJEPC.It currently produces around 1.5m carats, a distant second place to China's 3m carats (Bain/AWDC figures for 2021).But Colin Shah (pictured), chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Council, says the lab grown indu...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports slipped 3% year on year in April, while rough imports fell 23%, reflecting a global slowdown amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Polished exports fell by volume, while the average price increased, according to recent data from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). India Trade Data for April 2022 Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales at Richemont grew 49% for the full fiscal year as the global market recovery enabled the luxury retailer to record its highest-ever annual total for the category.Proceeds from the segment rose to EUR 11.08 billion ($11.7 billion) for the 12 months ending March 31, Richemont said last week. The increase was driven by a restart of public events following Covid-19 lockdowns,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is no longer facing charges over his "illegal entry" to the Caribbean island of Dominica almost a year ago.He is still wanted by authorities in his native India over the alleged $1.8bn Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.Choksi, (pictured), 62, left India in January 2018, days before the alleged fraud came to light, and relocated to Antigua and Barbud...Read More
RAPAPORT... Indian jewelry manufacturer Goldiam International saw strong sales growth in the past fiscal year amid resurgent consumer demand and the expansion of the company's lab-grown business.Revenue jumped 72% to INR 7.12 billion ($915.1 million) for the 12 months ending March 31, management reported Friday. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 81%...Read More
RAPAPORT... Watches of Switzerland reported strong sales growth in its fiscal fourth quarter, reflecting increased demand for luxury jewelry and timepieces, as well as a boost from newly opened and acquired stores.Group revenue jumped 39% year on year to GBP 304 million ($379.8 million) over the 13 weeks ending May 1, the UK-based company said last week. The equivalent quarter in 2021 comprised 14...Read More
(IDEX Online) - About 250,000 diamond workers in Surat have been put on two weeks' unpaid leave as rough supplies are squeezed by sanctions and banking restrictions against Alrosa.The Russian miner normally accounts for around 40 per cent (by volume) of the diamonds that are cut and polished in the Indian hub."The units have been reducing working hours from 12 to eight and had given two days...Read More
RAPAPORT... Traditional diamond grading can be inconsistent and inefficient, but is automation a viable alternative? Experts shared their views in the latest "Fast-Tracking the Future" webinar installment.Titled "Automated Grading and the AI Revolution," the final session of the three-part series featured panelists from four organizations: David Block, CEO of Sarine Technologies, the series'...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamond (MPD) says it has found kimberlite in three out of four locations during a winter exploration program at its Kennady North project in Northwest Territories, Canada, on the edge of the Arctic Circle.It has released interim results on its search for new kimberlites, based on a detailed analysis of ground and airborne geophysics, kimberlite indicator minerals...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's sales of high-value diamonds to wealthy investors in Russia have increased significantly since sanctions and hard currency restrictions were imposed.The miner, part-owned by the government, launched its Diamond Exclusive program, in partnership with private banks, three years ago.Instead of selling its largest and clearest fancy color stones and colorless gems over 3-...Read More