RAPAPORT... Silver-jewelry sales rose for the 10th consecutive year in 2018,according to research by the Silver Promotion Service (SPS). Some 52% of US jewelry retailers participating in the survey reported higher sales, withthe majority noting double-digit increases, the SPS reported. Younger customers and femaleself-purchasers were important sources of revenue, the jewelers noted....Read More

The last truckload of kimberlite from Ontario's first and only diamond mine has left the pit. De Beers Canada said mining ceased at Victor mine on March 5 - 11 years to the day after the official opening in 2008.The honour of driving the last truck went to Nancy Wesley, of Kashechewan First Nation. She worked at Victor for 11 years, as a haul truck driver, dozer operator and production drill opera...Read More

Steel H-beam prices in the Northern European market widened this week because of a slowdown in increases to feedstock costs and poorer market conditions, while Southern European prices narrowed, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 27.The price changes were on the lower ends of the price range in both markets. Prices at the top ends of the ranges were unchanged.Fastmarkets' weekly price ass...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers has sent out the final ore-haul truck from itsVictor mine in Canada, exactly 11 years to the day after the site's opening. The last load was driven by Nancy Wesley, who has worked asa haul-truck driver, dozer operator and production-drill operator at the minesince it opened, the company said last week. During the course of its operation, the mine was expandedfrom a 5-met...Read More

RAPAPORT... Baselworld will reduce booth prices by 10% to 30% at next year'sshow and move diamond dealers to a more attractive location, organizers have confirmed. Management will reopen Hall 2, which was empty at the 2019show, and place gem and pearl exhibitors in that area together with a newinnovation zone dedicated to smart watches and wearable devices. The plan asit stands would see the innov...Read More

Mining companies have requested a judicial review of South Africa's 2018 mining charter to change clauses related to transactions made in the past to increase black ownership, an industry body said on Wednesday.In a bid to rectify the wealth disparities of apartheid more than two decades after the end of white minority rule, South Africa has demanded that a proportion of a mining company's shares...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) dropped in Southern Europe due to slow trading, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic HRC in Southern Europe was ?,?460-480 ($520-542) per tonne ex-works on Wednesday March 27, down from ?,?480-490 per tonne ex-works a week earlier. Italian steelmakers were reported to offer HRC at ?,?460-465 per tonne ex-works to...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gemfields slid into the red in 2018 due to the impact of a new tax regime and a costly legal case, it said Monday.The company reported a loss of $60.4 million for the year, compared with a profit of $45.1 million the previous year. In 2018, the Zambian government introduced a 15% tax levy that required Gemfields to have its Kagem emerald mine revalued. This contributed to a $26.6...Read More

Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds has confirmed that its Thorny River diamond dyke project, in South Africa, remains on track to start bulk sampling and diamond production by the middle of this year.Bulk sampling is anticipated to start in May, assuming final permits are obtained in time, and will ramp up to 20 000 t a month.AdvertisementBotswana Diamonds on Monday said that, during its interim fi...Read More

Virtual Diamond Boutique (VDB), a sourcing and trading app for the jewelry industry, has added lab-grown diamonds (LGDS) to its product categories. The LGD products will be segregated from mined diamonds, but will offer all the visual and technical search, buy, hold, and memo features of the VDB platform. "This may be viewed as a controversial move by some in the jewelry industry," said Tanya Nisg...Read More

The price range for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe stayed flat on Wednesday March 27, and traders are becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of opportunities in the market. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe remained at ?,?540-550 ($610-621) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, with little hope for traders of finding agreeable prices...Read More

RAPAPORT... Global sales of diamond jewelry grew 4% to $85.9 billion in 2018 despite a weaker second half, according to market research Russian miner Alrosareleased. The growth was slower than the 5% increase Alrosa reported for the previous year. North American sales grew 4% in 2018, with the region accounting for more than half ofoverall revenue, the company said Monday. In the first half...Read More

Laurelton Diamonds Belgium BVBA will be holding the viewings of its next tender of rough and sawn diamonds at the Antwerp Diamond Tender Facility, Belgiumi in April. Laurelton, a subsidiary of Tiffany & Co, is a rough diamond manufacturing and trading company with operations across the globe. The company procures rough diamonds and manages the worldwide supply chain that cuts, polishes and sup...Read More

Turkish trader and steel service center Galva Metal has started production of cold-rolled coil at its facility in Kartepe, in the north-western Turkish province of Kocaeli, the company told Fastmarkets this week.The unit's capacity for CRC production is 60,000 tonnes per year, in coils of 850-2,000mm width and 0.25-6.00mm gauge.The line started production in January 2019, and has now begun commerc...Read More

Prices of small polished diamonds, also called melees, are expected to drop further in the next three, to four months as diamond manufacturers in Surat are selling off their inventories at discounts of 30 to even 40 percent to pay of loans they have taken with their local banks, The Times of India reports. The newspaper said that banks have given their diamond manufacturing clients until the end o...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices gained some strength on Wednesday March 27 following some gains in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,830-3,870 yuan ($570-576) per tonne, up 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,830-3,880 yuan per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneRebar futures rebounded during the day and stayed above Tuesday's settlement price of 3,700 yuan per tonne fo...Read More

Berenberg, Germany's oldest owner-managed private bank,  has downgraded the ratings of several junior miners, among the Gem Diamonds, and reduced its target prices for others such as Petra Diamonds and Firestone Diamonds PLC and has published "a cautious note on the gemstone sector," Proactiveinvestors of the UK reported on its website.  "The German bank cut its stance on Gem to 'hold'...Read More

Iron ore shipments from Chilean iron ore and steel producer Compa???-a de Acero del Pac?-fico (CAP) fell by 13.20% in 2018, compared with the previous year, due to logistics problems.Shipments from CAP's 75%-owned mining subsidiary, Compa???-a Minera del Pac?-fico (CMP), reached 14 million tonnes last year, compared with 16.14 million tonnes in 2017, CAP said late last week.The effect of the lower...Read More

Western Atlas drill-ready in NunavutSPONSOREDwestern atlas resourcesSocial opposition remains key industry hurdle in ColombiaSPONSOREDverisk maplecroft"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftGlobal Atomic's 'transformational discovery' changes everythingSPONSOREDglobal atomic corpThe miner has warned it would declare f...Read More

Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxAltech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsFitch expects disruption from Vale's tailings dam failure at Feijao to reduce net iron ore supply from Brazil by about 30-50 million tonnes a year, and other supply cuts in the country at Usiminas, Companhia Siderurgica Nacional and Gerdau to weigh down output.The agency upped its p...Read More