RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has lowered its sales outlook for the restof the year, after revenue fell in the first fiscal quarter. Total sales declined 3.3% to $1.43 billion in the threemonths ending May 4, the retailer reported Thursday. Same-store sales -at branches open for a year or more - slipped 1.3%.Signet now expects sales of $6 billion to $6.06 billion forthe current fiscal year ending Ja...Read More
By Chaim Even-Zohar and Pranay Narvekar Last year the diamond pipeline pretty well succeeded in Faking the Diamond Dream. Some of the largest companies discovered that defaulting on debts of hundreds of millions of dollars had become the new source of value. Lenders tried to recover lost value by suing clients - some of whom responded in kind. Court appointed forensic investigato...Read More
RAPAPORT... Chow Tai Fook's sales and profit rose during the fiscalyear amid increased purchases of gold jewelry and an expansion of the company'sretail network in China, it said Thursday. Group sales grew 13% to HKD 66.66 billion ($8.5 billion) forthe year ending March 31. Retail sales in mainland China climbed 8% to HKD30.42 billion ($3.88 billion), while revenue from Hong Kong and Macau ju...Read More
The first deal for third-quarter aluminium ingot supply to Japan has been concluded at a cif premium of $108 per tonne basis main Japanese ports (MJP), nearly 3% above the second-quarter benchmark, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 6. The deal between a Japanese aluminium trading firm and an overseas supplier was agreed very early in the negotiations process and slightly above marke...Read More
According to a 2016 report published by the US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Indian government lost a staggering $13 billion to trade misinvoicing. This amount is equivalent to 5.5 percent of the value of the country's total revenue collections in 2016, the Economic Times of India reported. In 2016, almost two-thirds of Indian imports that appear to be most at risk fo...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shipments of polished diamonds to the US grew 4% to $5.51billion in the first quarter, as a stronger March canceled out a negative startto the year. Imports rose 13% to $2.23 billion for the month, compared with a1% rise in January and a 3% decline in February.US Diamond Trade Data for March 2019 Millions unless stated otherwiseRead More
Alrosa, the world leader in diamond mining in volume, held an international auction for +10.8-carat rough diamonds in New York early this month. The company sold 101 gem-quality diamonds at a total weight of 1,550 carats. The auction netted Alrosa a total of $ 8.8 million. Some 90 companies, from Belgium, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, the UAE and the USA participated in the auction. "Our aucti...Read More
Nompumelelo (Mpumi) Zikalala has hit the ground running as the newly appointed MD of De Beers Group Managed Operations in South Africa and Canada, which employ more than 5 500 people, including contractors. The focus of the De Beers Group Managed Operations leadership team is on the Venetia Mine, Gahcho Kué Mine and De Beers Marine. The streamlining of operational management and identificat...Read More
American jeweler to the stars Le Vian celebrated 20 years of its record-busting Chocolate Diamonds with a glittering retrospective catwalk, while raising almost $500,000 for children's and cancer charities. Le Vian models sashayed down the runway in a packed Las Vegas ballroom at the Venetian Hotel on Sunday, June 2, in a catwalk show that looked both to the past and the future, with an audie...Read More
The First Lady of the Republic of Botswana, Mrs. Neo Jane Masisi, opened the Forevermark company's annual breakfast held at JCK LUXURY, sharing the important role that diamonds have played in the story of her own life as well as for her country with Forevermark jeweler and manufacturing partners. "It is thanks to the enduring desire for the diamond dream and the revenues Botswana has subsequ...Read More
Having recently completed a large facility management project for diamond processing organisation the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) in Gaborone, Botswana, industrial rope-access specialist Skyriders has found a faster, more efficient way of conducting maintenance on site through rope access.The project, which was completed this month for DTC at its head offices, involved sorting out defective ligh...Read More
Signet Jewelers, one of the United States' leading retailers of diamond jewelry, filed its sixth consecutive Conflict Minerals Report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Signet disclosed that its supply sources of gold from the Democratic Republic of The Congo (DRC) were guaranteed to be conflict free. The firm also reported it had "extended its 3TG diligence and reporting...Read More
Reinforcing bar prices in the United States have hit a more than 14-month low, with market sources expecting lackluster demand, abundant supply, falling scrap costs, trade-related uncertainties and slowing business conditions to weaken prices further. Fastmarkets' price assessment for domestic rebar fell to $33.50-34 per hundredweight ($670-680 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday June 5, its lowe...Read More
Australia-based Lucapa Diamond Company has launched a $3.3.-million, 12-month exploration programme to locate the kimberlite source of the high-value alluvial diamonds that it currently mines at the Lulo mine, in Angola.The programme is based on a technical review of Lulo kimberlite exploration results to date, including those of the 2018 drilling programme, which confirmed a further 70 kimberlite...Read More
International metals group Liberty House is unlikely to bid for troubled UK long steel producer British Steel, Fastmarkets has heard.Liberty House declined to comment on the subject at the time of publication."British Steel doesn't really fit in with their business model, which is based on recycling steel scrap rather than primary steel production," an industry source told Fastmarkets on Thursday...Read More
RAPAPORT... Retail sales of jewelry and other luxury items fell in HongKong in April due to cautious consumer sentiment and a slowdown in tourism. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts dropped 11% year on year to HKD 5.86 billion ($747.8 million), themunicipality's Census and Statistics Department reported last week. Sales inall retail categories slipped 4.5% to HKD 37...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices weakened again on Thursday June 6 on thin trading amid bearish sentiment and rising inventory levels.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,840-3,850 yuan ($556-557) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,790-3,800 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneTransaction prices fell nationwide despite mills keeping their offers steady, with buyers being r...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices retreated on Thursday June 6 on softer demand amid losses in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,890-3,930 yuan ($563-569) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,840-3,890 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneStockists cut their prices to secure more sales ahead of the long weekend, with China observing a public holiday on F...Read More
If push comes to shove, one of the world's largest gold miners is prepared to do an end run around the U.S. should President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on Mexican goods bite.Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. currently produces about 300,000 ounces of gold in Mexico that it refines in the U.S., all of which would likely be subject to the proposed tariffs, Chief Executive Officer Sean Boyd said Wednesd...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The world’s top 40 mining companies continued to consolidate their performance of the past several years by delivering steady growth in 2018, PwC’s ‘Mine 2019’ report, published on Tuesday, states.Combined, these companies’ revenue had increased by 8% year-on-year, which PwC says was buoyed by higher commodity prices and margina...Read More