Ukrainian steel billet producer Dneprovskiy Dzerzhinsky Metallurgical Plant (DMKD) has decided not to resume operations in part of its main production facility after a maintenance outage, due to the crisis in the global steel market, the company announced on Wednesday October 2.DKMD decided to idle blast furnace (BF) No9, which can produce 800,000 tonnes per year of pig iron, and BF No12 which has...Read More

Trading quiet due to Chinese,Indian and Jewish holidays and weak market sentiment. Dealers cautious asfourth quarter begins. Jewelers limiting inventory purchases as shift to interactivedigital shopping experience and omni-channel reduces their in-store stockrequirements. Hong Kong retail sales slump asprotests escalate during Oct. 1 Golden Week. Lower midstream inventorysupporting polished prices...Read More

RAPAPORT... US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has blocked theimport of rough diamonds mined from the Marange fields in Zimbabwe, claimingthey were produced using forced labor. "CBP is firmly committed to identifying and preventingproducts made with the use of forced labor from entering the stream of UScommerce," Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner of the CBP office oftrade, sa...Read More

Short week due to GandhiJayanti national holiday. Few foreign buyers in Mumbai. Prices of 0.30 to 0.40ct., D-G, IF-VVS2 firming as inventory diminishes. Rough trading down.Manufacturers maintaining low production capacity ahead of Oct. 27 Diwalibreak. RoundRead More

RAPAPORT... The Central African Republic (CAR) on Thursday unveiled a program to overhaul its diamond sector, with the goal of increasing its export revenue. Diamond buyers operating in the country must pledge to improve transparency and meet the due-diligence guidelines set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to a decree President Faustin-Archange T...Read More

RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports fell 25% to $1.64 billion inAugust, data from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council showed. Thedecline reflects a slump in the average export price to $658 per carat, thelowest since August 2017, according to Rapaport archives. Exports of polishedlab-grown diamonds more than doubled to $37.4 million for the month from $15.2million a year ago....Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers' sales slumped to $295 million in September as the minercontinued to allow sightholders to refuse goods in the prevailing weakrough-diamond market. The company maintained firm prices and offered increasedflexibility to encourage lower purchases, thereby reducing the oversupply inthe polished sector, sightholders explained to Rapaport News. Itcontinued its policy of allowing cl...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) will unveil a diamond-supply-chain-protectionkit this month to help retailers understand the Federal Trade Commission's(FTC) revised guidelines for natural and lab-grown stones. The free tool, which aims to help protect the supply chain,comes with a handout that breaks down the exact wording retailers can and can'tuse when advertising natural...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong sank in August, marking the sharpest monthlydecline on record as protests in the municipality hit tourism and consumption. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts dropped 47% year on year to HKD 3.93 billion ($501.3 million) during themonth, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Wedne...Read More

(IDEX Online) - As calls go out urging caution over diamonds from the Central African Republic (CAR), the country has announced a "full overhaul" of its alluvial diamond mining sector.A presidential decree signed on September 30 has established a process to allow existing buying houses to formalize their activities. Each buying house must export at least $3 million worth of goods per quarter....Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers today said it provisionally sold $295 million worth of rough diamonds at its eighth Sight of the year in September. This is compared to $482 million a year ago - a drop of 39 percent.  In Sight seven, the company sold $297 million worth of goods.  Accounting for slower sales, Bruce Cleaver, De Beers Group CEO said the company was approaching what is "tr...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sales of fine jewelry and fine watches declined by 0.8 percent in the U.S. market in July compared to the same month a year ago, as seen in the graph below. Revised figures also show that the situation is less gloomy than previously thought with the declines since the beginning of the year less steep than previously thought (the Department of Commerce periodically revises its numbe...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The World Diamond Council has again cautioned members of the industry to be cautious when purchasing goods from the Central African Republic (CAR).The call comes following recent media reports about rough diamonds being associated with the ongoing conflict in the country. There is some legal trade from the country. The Kimberley Process has designated "green" compliant zones t...Read More

Diamond miner De Beers sold $295-million worth of diamonds during the eighth sales cycle of the year.This was higher than the $287-million worth of diamonds sold during the seventh sales cycle of this year, but well below the $482-million of diamonds sold in the eighth sales cycle of 2018.Advertisement"As we approach what is traditionally a quieter time of year for the diamond industry during...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers has appointed Alastair Bickerstaff as head ofproduct development and sales for its auctions division. The company created the new role to bring the two elementsof the auctions business together so it could better address its customers'needs, it said last week.Bickerstaff, who began working with De Beers in 2005 as a London-basedtrainee rough-diamond valuer, held a variety of p...Read More

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The utilisation of new technologies could make mining a sunrise industry while simultaneously addressing safety and health issues, Minerals Council South Africa president Mxolisi Mgojo said on Wednesday.Responding to a question by Joburg Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel following his keynote address, Mgojo said adoption of the Khumbul'ekhaya safety a...Read More

The increase in global freight rates caused by tighter emissions control regulations is putting pressure on steel product exporters already facing reduced demand and falling raw materials and steel prices, Fastmarkets has learned. From January 1, 2020, new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations come into force to help reduce air pollution from ships globally. Kno...Read More

Stellar result for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxSun Metals said Thursday the latest six holes drilled on the 421 zone extended the known plunge length to more than 160m, which remains open to the north and south. The drill results continued to show the continuity of the system and the prevalent skarn alteration that surrounds the copper-gold mineralisation indicated drilling was on the correct trajectory...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices stayed flat on Thursday October 3, with Chinese market participants absent due to the week-long public holiday in China.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.38 per tonne, unchanged.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.91 per tonne, unchanged.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.72 per tonne, unchanged.58% Fe fines high-pre...Read More

IronRidge derisks through diverse discoveries SPONSOREDironridge resources Drilling in 2019 totalled 5,400m in four diamond core holes. Two of the three which reached their target depth intersected long intervals of higher than current resource grade material and one hit the new porphyry centre.Drilling highlights included 194m grading 0.74 grams per tonne gold and 1.1g/t silver from surface and a...Read More