Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY), the company conducting exploration at a Western Australia-based copper project with partner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE:RIO), said Tuesday it had so far failed to find any economically viable veins of ore at the asset.In an update Tuesday, the junior miner noted "weak mineralization" in the Folly target area that is part of the Citadel project, located in the Paterson pro...Read More
Global miner Anglo American (LON:AAL) is ending 2018 on a high note, the company reported Tuesday. Anglo expects total production for the year to be 2% above of previous guidance, with costs decreasing by 5%."We are also confident about the outlook, with production expected to increase by 3% in 2019, with cost inflation fully absorbed by our productivity and cost improvements," chief executive M...Read More
Pan Global Resources (TSXV: PGZ) was granted a mineral exploration permit on the Escacena gold / copper / zinc prospect in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in southern Spain. In a press release, the Vancouver-based miner said the Escacena Investigation Permit was granted and a formal notice was received by current owner EVALAM 2003 SL. Yet, Pan Global has a binding Letter of Intent with EVALAM, providing t...Read More
Physical iron ore prices stayed rangebound on Tuesday December 11 while steel markets weakened further. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $65.97 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $65.24 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $69.68 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.18 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $59.67 per ton...Read More
The rally in uranium prices, which began in April this year amid production cutbacks in Kazakhstan and Canada, is set to continue as inventories of the nuclear material decline for the first time in nearly a decade.Production at Kazakhstan state-owned uranium miner Kazatomprom, responsible for more than a quarter of global output, was 19,600 tonnes during the first eleven months of 2018, a 7% decl...Read More
SASKATCHEWAN - Vancouver's CanAlaska Uranium and Saskatoon's Cameco Corp. have formed the West McArthur joint venture and agreed on a $2.4-million exploration budget for 2019. CanAlaska will be the operator and 70% owner.Next year's work will focus on extending the footprint of the three discovery holes in 2017 and 2018. They define a halo of uranium mineralization in the sandstone. The halo measu...Read More
Drilling at the West McArthur uranium property. (Image: CanAlaska Uranium)SASKATCHEWAN - Vancouver's CanAlaska Uranium and Saskatoon's Cameco Corp. have formed the West McArthur joint venture and agreed on a $2.4-million exploration budget for 2019. CanAlaska will be the operator and 70% owner.Next year's work will focus on extending the footprint of the three discovery holes in 2017 and 2018. The...Read More
Locations of 2019 drill sections in the Derkson Corridor at Hook Lake. (Image: Purepoint Uranium)SASKATCHEWAN - The partners in the Hook Lake uranium joint venture have approved a 2019 exploration budget of $3 million. Situated within the Patterson Uranium District, Hook Lake is owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), Orano Canada (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group (operator and holder of a 21% in...Read More
SASKATCHEWAN - Fission 3.0 Corp. of Kelowna, B.C., is preparing for its winter drilling program at four high priority targets - Wales Lake (two holes), Patterson Lake North (five holes), Key Lake (nine holes) and Cree Bay (two holes). About 4,400 metres of drilling is planned.Fission 3 recently completed an $8-million financing with which to fund the work.The Wales Lake occurrence is similar to Fi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Somewhere between the volatility of cryptocurrencies and thestability of diamond prices lies an opportunity for investors. That is, atleast, what several new initiatives to create diamond-backed crypto-coins arebetting on.In fact, developers of these coins, or "tokens," areconfident the asset class will offer a solution to challenges facing both thecrypto market and the diamond trade....Read More
RAPAPORT... Stones must have a stable color to qualify as padparadschasapphires, according to a ruling by the Laboratory Manual HarmonisationCommittee (LMHC), a global alliance of gemological groups.Gemstones that turn pink during a color-stability test donot meet the requirements for the term, LMHC concluded at a meeting in Lucerne,Switzerland, last month. The committee comprises representat...Read More
Global miner Anglo American (LON:AAL) is ending 2018 on a high note, the company reported Tuesday. Anglo expects total production for the year to be 2% above of previous guidance, with costs decreasing by 5%."We are also confident about the outlook, with production expected to increase by 3% in 2019, with cost inflation fully absorbed by our productivity and cost improvements," chief executive M...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co., Swarovski and Pandora are the preferredjewelry brands among more affluent immigrants in the US, according to a survey byMVI Marketing. Researchers asked 702 Asian-American, Hispanic andLatino-American consumers with an annual household income of $80,000 or more to name the threebrands whose jewelry they own. Tiffany was top, with 42% of respondents sayingthey ha...Read More
RAPAPORT... Zales Jewelers is embroiled in a dispute with a customerover whether the repair program that came with his diamond ring covered thesetting, or just the stone. Gordon Henry Lovette has sued the Signet Jewelers-owned retailer,claiming it failed to honor a lifetime-repair plan. Zales refusedto fix a loose stone in Lovette's ring earlier this year, even though he hadbrought it in for...Read More
RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has launched a brick-and-mortar conceptstore for its e-commerce brand James Allen. The store, which opened on Friday in the Georgetown area ofWashington, DC, will feature an immersive gallery experience aimed at thebrand's younger consumer base, the retailer said last week. "We're excited to continue executing Signet's customer-first,omni-channel strate...Read More
RAPAPORT... A Bulgari necklace fetched $200,000 at Phillips auctionhouse's first New York sale, exceeding its presale estimate of $120,000 to$180,000. The piece includes 39.35 carats of oval-shaped rubiesand 6 carats of round brilliant-cut diamonds. It was the top-selling lot at theauction, which earned $2.4 million overall, Phillips said. A ring featuring an emerald-cut, 4.91-carat, faint-pi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - ALROSA sold $266.6 million of rough diamonds in November, and $4.1 billion worth in the first 11 months of 2018. ALROSA's total sales in November of rough and polished diamonds were down 18% on the year to $274 million, with polished diamond sales of $7.4 million. Meanwhile, total diamond sales in the January-November period increased by 3.7% on the year to $4.2...Read More
LISBON – Angola will conduct its first diamond auction in January as part of the southwest African country’s plan to open its economy to foreign investors, state-owned diamond-trading company Sodiam said.Seven gemstones from the Lulo mine, located in the northeast, will come under the hammer, Sodiam said in an emailed statement Monday. They include a 114 ct stone and a pink, 46 ct gem....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered a 78-carat white diamond from the Mothae mine in Lesotho. The diamond (pictured above) is the largest special size stone recovered through the new 1.1Mtpa Mothae treatment plant following the commencement of commissioning and recovery of commercial diamonds and highlights Mothae's potential to regularly recover large diamonds, the miner s...Read More
RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Mines CEO Patrick Evans has stepped down withimmediate effect after a year at the company, the miner confirmed to RapaportNews Sunday. Evans joined the Canada-based producer in November 2017 afterits $1.2 billion acquisition by Washington Companies. Prior to that, he was CEOof Mountain Province for 12 years. Shane Durgin, Dominion's chief operating officer, will...Read More