Signet Jewelers, the parent company of jewelry chain stores Kay, Jared and Zales has offered eligible employees a Voluntary Transition Program (VTP), which "provides an opportunity for eligible team members to self-nominate and leave Signet with transition assistance." The company will be taking actions "to lower costs in real estate, merchandise and costs of goods, indirect spending, and r...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has unearthed a 98.8-carat, gem-quality diamondfrom its new Verkhne-Munskoye mine in Yakutia, it said Wednesday. The stone was retrieved from the Zapolyarnaya pipe, one offour kimberlites that are located at the site. It has a visible yellow shade, Alrosa noted. "This is the second major find since the launch of thedeposit last October," said Evgeny Agureev, director of the...Read More
World Diamond Council President Stephane Fischler addressed a special meeting of the United Nations' General Assembly's 73rd Session in New York regarding the role of diamonds in fueling conflict. Mr. Fischler spoke on behalf of the diamond and jewelry industries in the session entitled "From blood diamonds to peace diamonds: conflict prevention through the Kimberley Process," and specificall...Read More
Aim- and Botswana Stock Exchange-listed Botswana Diamonds on Thursday announced that the first phase of the intensification drilling programme at its Thorny River prospect, in South Africa, has been concluded. Eighteen holes have been drilled with 12 intersecting kimberlite, the company stated in a release, adding that a bulk sampling target of 1.5 km of kimberlite fissure intersection had be...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Rapaport Group has published a special report delvinginto the key issues around lab-grown diamonds.The supplement, "The Fight's Getting Real," contains highlights from the February 2019 issue of Rapaport Magazine, featuring an analysis of DeBeers' entry into the synthetics market, and a deep look at questions of pricingand marketing terminology.It also details how companies ar...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company garnered $3.8 million from the saleof rough stones from its Mothae mine in Lesotho, with one stone going for $36,664 per carat. The miner sold 5,411 carats at tender in Antwerp, its first commercialsale of diamonds from the deposit. It recovered the stones in the fourthquarter of 2018, during the plant's ramp-up phase and in the first month ofcommercial mini...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has generated a further A$5.3-million in revenue from the sale of 5 411 ct of rough diamonds recovered from its Mothae operation, in Lesotho, during January.The diamonds were recovered during the ramp-up of the 1.1-million-tonne-a-year plant in the fourth quarter of 2018, and in the first month of commercial mining operations in...Read More
Physical iron ore prices rose on Thursday February 28 after being soft for a week, in line with gains in the futures and swaps markets.Fastmarkets MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $85.29 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.75 per tonne.Fastmarkets MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $84.69 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $1.75 per tonne.Fastmarkets MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $86.97 per tonne cfr Qin...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewelry Association (WJA) has appointedJacqueline Cassaway, the vice president of merchandising for Starboard CruiseServices, as president-elect. Jenny Luker will remain president and Sara Yood will continue as treasurer.Corporate secretary Rebecca Moskal, vice president of chapter affairs LaurenThompson and past president Brandee Dallow will also stay in their roles....Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transactions: iron oreIron oreVale, Beijing Iron Ore Trading Center (Corex), 170,000 tonnes of 62% Fe Brazilian Blend fines, traded at $88.30 per tonne cfr China,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Actress and singer Lady Gaga sported a 128.54-carat yellowdiamond and platinum Tiffany necklace at the 91st Academy Awardsshow Sunday night. The Oscar winner wore the 141-year-old cushion-cut TiffanyDiamond - which originated in the Kimberley mines in South Africa - was last seen on Audrey Hepburn at the publicity shoot for the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's th...Read More
Participants in the seaborne coking coal market kept to the sidelines on Thursday February 28 to wait for a clearer price trend to emerge. "There is an offer for a cargo of a top Australian brand of materials, scheduled for loading in early April, via a miner's tender that will conclude tomorrow. There will be some clarity on prices then," a Chinese trading source said. A second Chinese trader is...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxWater shortages at the copper-gold mine were among the impacts on the company's 2018 earnings, which Centerra revealed last week were about 50% lower than in 2017.Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxThe obvious challenge for Australian-listed Xanadu is that it is exploring in Mongolia, a country with a reputation for making life difficult for foreign mining companies, as Rio Tinto has discoveredRead More
Two-time Vale president Eliezer Batista diesLeadershipLook beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipQuality emerges at Galan's blue-chip lithium addressSPONSOREDgalan lithium"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftThe intercept from the Sherlock zone also contained 2.1g/t silver and included 8m at 0.64% c...Read More
A drop in China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) to 49.2 in February, from 49.5 in January, has set a weaker tone across markets with base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange mostly lower and down by an average of 0.3% in the morning of Thursday February 28. Copper and zinc prices led on the downside with losses of 0.7%, with copper recently quoted at $6,473 per to...Read More
Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxThe company's exploration team has been working at Winu, 130km north of Telfer, since late 2017.Read More
Chinese battery materials producers, who are the largest consumers of cobalt sulfate and cobalt tetroxide, have hesitated in purchasing any cobalt salts this week amid rapid falling international cobalt metal prices.The resulting thin buying appetites have forced suppliers to lower their spot offer prices to facilitate sales. Fastmarkets assessed the Chinese cobalt sulfate, basis 20.5% Co market p...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 4 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 220,000 versus 216,000 last week. Actual was 225,000. Consensus for first estimate for U.S. fourth quarter real GDP was growth at a 2.4% rate versus growth at...Read More
A drop in China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) to 49.2 in February, from 49.5 in January, has set a weaker tone across markets with base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange mostly lower and down by an average of 0.3% in the morning of Thursday February 28. Copper and zinc prices led on the downside with losses of 0.7%, with copper recently quoted at $6,473 per tonne after...Read More