RAPAPORT... Graff has bought the New York property that has housed itsflagship boutique for nearly 20 years, the London-based jeweler said Tuesday. The building, at 710 Madison Avenue on the corner of 63rd Street, was designed by celebrated US architect Peter Marino, who has alsocreated stores for other high-profile clients, including Calvin Klein, Chanel, ChristianDior and Louis Vuitton. Gr...Read More

RAPAPORT... HRD Antwerp has changed the language it uses in itslab-grown-diamond certificates to match its reports for natural stones. The grading lab, which has issued documents for loose synthetics since 2013, has expanded its color categories for lab-grown diamonds, andhas updated its 4Cs terminology to correspond with the certificates it issuesfor mined diamonds. While the old lab-grown-...Read More

RAPAPORT... Russian diamond manufacturer Kristall Smolensk is selling areplica of the Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire on RapNet's newjewelry platform for $15.5 million. The crown, which weighs 2.3 kilograms, comprises more than11,000 round, oval and pear-shaped white diamonds, weighing 1,928 carats andset in white gold. The stones were sourced from Russian miner Alrosa, certifiedby...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers' sales fell for the second consecutive month, ashigh rough prices and slim midstream profits softened demand from buyers,sightholders reported. Sales of $490 million in February were 13% below ayear ago amid weak interest in lower-value goods, the miner said Tuesday. De Beers mainlykept prices steady, prompting concerns from clients, many of whom had beenhoping the company wou...Read More

De Beers Group Industry Services on Tuesday announced that all four of its diamond verification instruments (DVIs) submitted for testing as part of the Assure programme had received “outstanding” results.The Assure programme is a joint collaboration between the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) and Signet Jewelers, with input provided by other participants in the diamond industry and...Read More

De Beers Group today announced the value of rough diamond sales (Global Sightholder Sales and Auction Sales) for the second sales cycle of 2019.  Sales of De Beers' second "cycle " stood at $490 , a drop of 13 percent compared to the sales figure of De Beers' second sight in 2018, which generated $563 million. "Demand for rough diamonds remained consistent during the second sales cycle of 20...Read More

Standard & Poors (S&P) issued a report saying that 2019 will be yet another year of elevated retail defaults, above the levels that were seen during the great recession of a decade ago. It noted that a significant number of retailers struggle to operate successfully in the current competitive landscape. While the United States' economy seems to be in reasonably good shape, S&P predicts...Read More

GIA's second annual GIA (Gemological Institute of America) London Jewellery Career Fair will be held on April 5, 11:30 am to 4:15 pm, at the Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN, for an opportunity to meet gem and jewelry industry recruiters from all over Europe. The event is free and open to the public. "The GIA Jewellery Career Fair is back in London for a second year, and is eve...Read More

The World Diamond Council has welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on March 1, which calls for a strengthening of the Kimberley Process (KP), to more effectively sever the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict, thereby contributing to the maintenance of international peace and, in particular, security and sustainabl...Read More

Bulawayo24, an online news service, reported that Zimbabwe has agreed with Botswana to start processing its diamonds at the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) in Gaborone. The agreement was reached during a high-level summit of the Zimbabwe-Botswana Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Harare in February. To implement the agreement, DTC diamond experts are to visit Zimbabwe this month. According to the rep...Read More

MCH Group has appointed Bernd Stadlwieser as CEO of the MCH Group. He succeeds Rene Kam, the veteran CEO who resigned after MCH's chief asset, BaselWorld lost close to 40 percent of its exhibitors in 2018. Bernd Stadlwieser has more than 20 years' international professional experience in the watch, jewelry and art business  as well as in the fields of business development and digitisati...Read More

Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxAltech ticks boxes on path to production SPONSOREDaltech chemicalsThe mining major signed an agreement with Toronto-listed Freegold Ventures to spend up to US$30 million to earn 70% of the 100sq.km Shorty Creek project near Fairbanks in Alaska.Read More

Two-time Vale president Eliezer Batista diesLeadershipLook beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipGlobal Atomic's 'transformational discovery' changes everythingSPONSOREDglobal atomic corp"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftCEO Luis Tondo said the latest results exceeded expectations "on man...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 6 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the February ADP Private Employment report at 8:15 AM EST. Consensus was a drop to 190,000 from 213,000 in January. Actual was a drop to 183,000.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the December U.S. Trade...Read More

Like an army that has outdistanced its supply lines, the stock market runs far ahead of logistical support.Total market capitalization of U.S. stocks presently ranges to $40 trillion - or twice GDP.This 2-1 ratio is the highest in history... we might mention.Analyst John Hussman reminds us the ratio previously topped at 1.9 in 2000.That is, never before has Wall Street run so far ahead of Main Str...Read More

- 2018 drilling, comprised of a total of fifteen holes, and was conducted in two phases- Phase 1 drilling provided "scout" drill tests within several broad new target areas and was limited due to permitting constraints- Phase 2 drilling began in early November (upon approval of the district-wide Environmental Assessment and Plan of Operations) and provided a first test to several drill targets in...Read More

In a recent article about "The Seven Deadly Sins of Retirement," I said soaring healthcare costs were a major topic that seniors need to think about. I also suggested you consider ways to shelter as much money as possible from nursing homes or government-run healthcare programs.This is not the first time I've said as much, and it once prompted a reader named Pat to write in with the following resp...Read More

Are you counting on a big tax refund to help with expenses this year?Better call your accountant or double check your return - because you might be among the many Americans who will be extremely disappointed with their tax refunds this year.According to the IRS, American tax refunds so far are coming in 8.7% lower than last year. The media has been running with this story, coming up with frantic h...Read More

The new head of the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines hopes to increase the visibility of the impactful faculty research happening on campus in the energy and biomedical sectors and beyond. Anuj Chauhan, who joined Mines in August, comes from the University of Florida, where he served on the chemical engineering faculty since 2001. "This department is doi...Read More

With Barrick Gold's (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) hostile takeover bid for Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) and the scrutiny of both companies' assets in Nevada, Gold Standard Ventures' (TSXV: GSV) Railroad project in the state is "increasingly an attractive potential target," mining analysts at Macquarie Research claim in a recent research note."Gold Standard Ventures has the largest undeveloped oxide gold de...Read More