What would it take for President Trump to re-monetize silver? Hugo Salinas Price spells out what it would take, and it wouldn't take much...by Hugo Salinas Price of Plata.com.mxA Message for Trump. Expanded and Clarified as of January 23, 2019.Mr. President Trump, Sir: you are working tirelessly, against tremendous odds, to carry out your mission in life, which is to "Make America Great Again".I p...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The success of China's economic reform programme will have a strong influence on the metals market this year. On balance, fundamentals have improved, but geo-political concerns continue to dog the market and whispers of economic slowd...Read More

Diamond marketsquieter than usual in January. Dealers cautious amid sluggish US post-holidaydemand. Far East orders slow as jewelersfocus on Chinese New Year sales. Decline in Chinese tourist spending sees Tiffany& Co. Nov./Dec. sales -1% to $1B. Luk Fook 3Q same-store sales -10%. JBT reports US industry shrinks 4% to 25,102 jewelers in 2018. Roughsentiment weak as manufacturers facetight prof...Read More

Dealers concerned about slower-than-normal January trading.Far East demand quiet before Chinese New Year. Selective post-holidayrestocking by US retailers. SI-I1 doing well in most sizes. Melee market stableand showing signs of improvement. Manufacturers holding large inventory andmaintaining lower polished production. RoundRead More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's rough-diamond production fell 7% in 2018 amid theclosure of two of its assets, the miner said Thursday. Output for the year dropped to 36.7 million carats, as thecompany was no longer carrying out open-pit mining at the Udachnaya pipe. TheMir mine, which shut in August 2017 after a flood that killed eightemployees, also remains closed. The Russian miner reported sales vo...Read More

RAPAPORT... Eddie Levian has an air of confidence as he navigates LeVian's large and loud booth at the JCK Luxury show in Las Vegas. With musicblaring in the background, he stops mid-sentence during our interview about thejewelry brand's latest collection to focus on his retail partners. "If everyone could send a happy birthday message to mybrother, who couldn't be with us at the show this year,"...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers' sales volume fell 4% last year due to weakeneddemand for lower-value diamonds in the second half. The miner sold 33.7 million carats of rough, compared with 35.1million carats in 2017, as clients bought fewer of its cheaper stones, itreported Thursday. De Beers' average price for sales - excluding some sales by itsjoint-venture partners - rose 6% to $171 per carat for t...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Online diamond trading platform IDEX and the Delgatto Diamond Finance Fund (DDFF) announced today a joint initiative that will make it easier for diamond and jewelry wholesalers globally to use DDFF's services to easily access capital.   The DDFF specializes in collateral-based financing for diamond and jewelry companies. "For the first time ever, the industry has a fina...Read More

Multidisciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy Knight Piésold aims to expand its mining capability and market share, especially in tailings, as well as assist mines in developing renewable-energy projects in remote areas where grid power is unavailable or unreliable, says Knight Piésold mining technical director Andrew Copeland.He tells Mining Weekly that, in South Afric...Read More

(IDEX Online) - ALROSA reports diamond production volume in 2018 at 36.7 million carats and sales of 38.1 million carats (down 8%). Sales proceeds increased by 6% to $4.5 billion.   In Q4 2018, diamond production decreased by 2% q-o-q (up 2% y-o-y) to 10.3 million carats driven by seasonal suspension of production at alluvial deposits, which was almost fully offset by increased output at und...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers reported that rough diamond sales volumes totaled 9.9 million carats (9.2 million carats on a consolidated basis) from three sales cycles, compared with 8.2 million carats (7.5 million carats on a consolidated basis) from the same number of sales cycles during the equivalent period in 2017.   Fourth quarter rough sales revenues increased year on year as the re-phased...Read More

The 2019 Investing in African Mining Indaba – to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 4 to 7 – will be the twenty-fifth iteration of the event, and the “world’s largest mining conference” having reached this milestone is testimony to its relevance and value, says Minerals Council South Africa public affairs and transformation senior e...Read More

Lucara Diamond Corp continues to make progress with the feasibility study for a potential underground operation at its 100%-owned and operated Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana.Following the release of a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA), the company last year embarked on a technical programme to support a feasibility study for a potential underground operation at Karowe, with the aim...Read More

Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds has temporarily suspended operations at its Kareevlei mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa, owing to the imposition of a Section 54 notice from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).The Section 54 notice is in relation to the code of practice relating to the operation of trackless mining machines only and resulted from an accident on Friday involving an ext...Read More

Diamond miner De Beers has lowered its production guidance for 2019 to between 31-million and 33-million carats.The company, which on Thursday reported production of 35.3-million carats for the 2018 financial year, attributes the lower production guidance to its existing Venetia openpit, in South Africa, where the Venetia underground mine will become the principal source of ore from 2023.Advertise...Read More

Russian diamond miner Alrosa reported 2018 production volumes of 36.7-million carats and sales of 38.1-million carats.Production declined by 7% year-on-year, owing to the shutdown of the Mir underground mine and the completion of openpit mining at the Udachnaya pipe.AdvertisementThe sales volume decreased 8% year-on-year, but sales proceeds increased by 6% year-on-year to $4.5-billion.In the fourt...Read More

HARARE – Russian diamond giant Alrosa and Chinese-owned Anjin are the two foreign companies chosen by Zimbabwe's government to partner the state-diamond firm in exploring and mining diamonds, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.The southern African nation announced in December that it would allow two private companies to explore and mine gems and Alrosa said last week it had set u...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part weaker with prices off by an average of 0.3% this morning, Thursday January 24.Zinc led the way with a 0.8% drop, nickel and lead prices were off by 0.4%, tin was down by 0.2%, while copper and aluminium were little changed, with copper recently quoted at $5,940 per tonne. Volume across the LME base metals comp...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures slipped 2 points in pre-opening trade. European Central Bank announced that it maintained interest rates at current rates.Index futures moved lower following release of the Weekly Jobless Claims report at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was an increase to 218,000 from 213,000 last week. Actual was 199,000.Canadian Pacific (CP $261.91 C...Read More

PolarX builds bigger, richer Zackly pictureSPONSOREDpolar x limitedElement 25 targeting clean entry into high-growth marketSPONSOREDelement 25It produced 294,700 tonnes of copper during the year, up 14% year-on-year and at the top end of the 270,000-300,000t forecast.Read More