(IDEX Online) - It's a new year, and there's a new direction of travel.The IDEX Polished Price Index is finally on the increase after a long and steady decline from its post-Covid peak in March 2022.The last two months of 2023 saw the first green shoots of recovery. In December, for the first time in almost two years we saw an increase in month-on-month prices for all sizes up to 5.0-cts...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rounds showed further signs of a recovery during December, although fancies fared less well. There is a general sense that prices are bottoming out after almost two years of relentless decline and that the general trend now will be upwards.Holiday spending in the US was a little disappointing, down 2.0 per cent year on year, but the overall direction of travel seems to be positive....Read More
(IDEX Online) - The "biggest ever" IIJS Signature will be inaugurated in Mumbai on Friday (5 January 2024).Organizers are expecting 25,000 trade visitors, up from 20,000 at the same show last year.This year they say there will be over 1,500 exhibitors and 3,000 stalls, compared with 1,300 and 2,500 in 2022.The majority of visitors are from India, although an expected 1,000 or more will be coming f...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Russia says it will carry on exporting diamonds, regardless of the G7 sanctions that come inti force tomorrow (1 January).Finance Minister Anton Siluanov (pictured), on a visit to Beijing, told the news agency Tass: "All these restrictions introduced (by Western countries), they affect not only us alone but also those who introduced them. "Exports of diamonds will continue. We...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Canadian miner Lucara has announced the latest in a series of extensions to the finance facility that is funding the underground expansion of its Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana.In July it said it expected the cost of the project to increase by 25 per cent from $547m, the original estimate, to $683m. Underground production is now expected to start in the first half of 2028, r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Eleven shipments of counterfeit jewelry from India, Hong Kong, and Indonesia were intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection VCBP) ahead of the holiday season.The total value of the goods, if they had been genuine, would have been $6.96m.The first shipment, seized on 1 December, contained 783 bracelets, earrings, and necklaces displaying the logos of Fendi, Versace, Cartier, C...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The plane that crashed last Wednesday (27 December) in Canada's Northwest Territories was flying workers to build the winter road that supplies Ekati, Diavik, and Gahcho Kue diamond mines with vital supplies from February to March every year.Canada's Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the accident, involving a 49-year-old Air Tindi de Havilland DHC-...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A rescue operation is under way after a light aircraft crashed close to Rio Tinto's remote Diavaik diamond mine, in Canada's Northwest Territories.The two crew and eight passengers on board a de Havilland DHC-6-300 reportedly suffered only minor injuries when the plane came down yesterday (27 December) 300km north-east of Yellowknife.But strong winds and Arctic conditions...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Customs officers in Hong Kong have arrested four people in a crackdown on crime syndicate suspected of laundering money through $64m of bogus diamond transactions.They say it's the first-ever money laundering case they've ever smashed that had centered on "transnational diamond trading".Their investigation revealed that members of a crime syndicate had established diamond...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The US is closing the loophole that has, for almost two years, allowed the importation of rough diamonds from Russia as long as they are cut and polished in India or elsewhere.A new White House Executive Order broadens existing restrictions immediately to include diamonds and other Russian goods "even if these products are then transformed in a third country".President Joe Biden si...Read More
(IDEX Online) - There are encouraging signs that more US couples plan to wed, says Signet, the jewelry giant that says bridal accounts for half its total revenue.The number of marriages has been in steady decline for decades, and the Covid pandemic prompted an "engagement gap", with lockdowns limiting opportunities for romance.But Gina Drosos, Signet Jewelers CEO, (pictured) says there are, finall...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Consumer spending on jewelry in the US slipped by 2.0 per cent over the holiday period, despite an uptick in the economy, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Overall retail sales for 1 November to 24 December (excluding automotive) increased by 3.1 per cent year on year.Spending on restaurant meals showed the biggest growth, up 7.8 per cent, followed by apparel, at 2.4 per...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A visitor to a state park in Arkansas, USA, discovered the "piece of glass" he picked up was actually a 4.87-carat diamond.Jerry Evans and his girlfriend were visiting the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, which charges day trippers $10 a day to sift the soil - and lets them keep any gems they find. "I thought it might be a piece of glass, it was so clear. I re...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa, Russia's state-controlled diamond miner, produced 34.6m carats during 2023, in line with its forecasts, according to the Tass news agency.That's a slight drop on its 35.6m carat production in 2022, but suggests US sanctions and voluntary bans on buying Russian goods have so far had a negligible impact.Alrosa's biggest rival, De Beers, produced 34.6m carats in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The government of Namibia says G7 plans to channel all diamonds into the EU via a single point of entry will be costly and complicated.Tom Alweendo, the Minister of Mines and Energy, is calling on G7 nations to reconsider their plan, due to some into effect in a few days time, on 1 January 2024."We are deeply concerned about the potential consequences of these restrictive measures,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, says the G7 sanctions on Russian diamonds, due to take effect next week, may prove impractical to implement."With the best will in the world, the average customs agent will not be able to look at one diamond and another diamond and go, 'That's the Russian one'," he said in an interview with the Financial Times.Cook (pictured) questione...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The G7 sanctions on Russia, which take effect a week from now, will harm the entire diamond pipeline, says the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB).It says the likely implementation of a single-entry point for all rough diamonds (probably Antwerp) will be expensive and time-consuming, and suggests multiple points of entry, including Mumbai, Israel, Dubai and African diamond-p...Read More
IDEX Online) - A Special Notified Zone (SNZ) - designed to ease rough imports from big miners - is to be launched at the newly-opened Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB).The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), representing almost 10,000 manufacturers, says it will be the biggest diamond SNZ in India.The 4,500 sq ft premises will feature 15 cabins, a high-security monitoring room, and a 24/...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Burgundy Diamond Mines has reported a 40 per cent increase in Q4 sales from Ekati, in Northwest Territories, Canada.It sold 1,975,198 carats (a 55 per cent year-on-year increase) for $170m, as retail demand recovered and the industry took "responsible actions" to manage the supply chain. In the previous quarter, Q3 2023, it sold 784,000 carats for $90m.Australia-based Burgundy...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 66-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced in connection the murder of jeweler in Connecticut, USA.Thomas Liberatore was handed a 32-year sentence for his role in what police described as the "cold-blooded murder" of Mark Vuono, 69, in March 2020.Two accomplices, Paul "Tony Pro" Prosano, 63, and Robert Rallo, 59, were sentenced previously to 30 years and 40 years respective...Read More