news – Page 11 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Deloitte to liquidate dodgy Australian diamond miner

Consultants from Deloitte have been tapped to oversee a third high profile administration in weeks. In the firm’s latest restructuring win, Deloitte Financial Advisory has been appointed by the Federal Court of Australia as a provisional liquidator of Merlin Diamonds.

The appointment comes after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia’s corporate regulator, asked the Court to wound up Merlin Diamonds, which is the parent of Merlin diamond mine in the Northern Territory, about 80 kilometres south of Borroloola.

The Merlin diamond mine was discovered more than 25 years ago, and first went into operation in 2000. Shortly after opening, the site yielded Australia’s largest diamond, a 104.73 carat stone back ten valued at over half a million US dollar’s. In 2017, the site also yielded a 35.26-carat rough brown diamond believed to be the fifth largest stone discovered in the country.

Under the ownership of Merlin Diamonds previous owners include Ashton Mining, Rio Tinto and North Australian Diamonds the mine’s total production however never reached the targets set. The Merlin diamond mine is currently one of only three diamond mines in Australia, and was set to become Australia’s last operating diamond mine when the Argyle mine in Western Australia ceases operation next year.

In October, ASIC kicked off a probe into a $13 million loan from the mining group to a private company associated to the diamond producer’s owner. The owner of Merlin Diamonds, mining magnate Joseph Gutnick, had in recent years completed a number of such loans and has proven unwilling or incapable of repaying the loans.

The instigation came shortly after an arbitration was started in Western Australia and the Northern Territory by former contractors and employees of Merlin Diamonds, who claim that they are owed more than $1.2 million in payments. Shares of Merlin Diamonds were suspended from trading last year after its management failed to file a quarterly report with the Australian Securities Exchange.

Provisional liquidation

Based on ASIC’s claim that there is a “justifiable lack of confidence in the directors’ conduct and their ability to manage Merlin’s affairs in the best interests of its shareholders and creditors”, the Court has pushed Merlin Diamonds into provisional liquidation.

Deloitte Financial Advisory has been tasked with assessing the financial situation, shedding light on the status of the loan portfolio, and drafting a plan on how to redeem stakeholders. Meanwhile, future options for the Merlin Diamonds and the Merlin diamond mine will be explored.

Earlier this month, restructuring experts from Deloitte were tapped to manage the wind-down of Karen Millen in Australia. The firm’s consultants further played their part in completing the sale of collapsed SME lender Axsesstoday.

Source: consultancy

Alrosa Sales Decline at Slower Rate

Alrosa’s sales fell 24% year on year to $258.7 million in September, amid continued market weakness.

However, the total was the highest in four months, and reflected a noticeable recovery in the small-stone sector, the Russian miner said last week.

“It is partly due to the traditional autumn market revival after the holiday period, and a slight increase in demand from Indian cutters and polishers ahead of the Diwali festival,” said Alrosa deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev. “The most noticeable increase [was] sales of small-sized rough diamonds.”

Rough-diamond sales decreased 23% to $256.5 million for the month, while polished revenue plunged 69% to $2.2 million.

Alrosa’s sales fell 34% to $2.42 billion in the first nine months of the year. Revenue from rough stones dropped 34% to $2.39 billion for the period, while polished-diamond sales slid 50% to $36.8 million.

However, while sales have seen a slight boost, Alrosa thinks a full recovery will take longer.

“The market is still facing low demand for rough diamonds, though there has been a gradual recovery for some categories of diamonds,” Agureev added. “We still believe it will take some time to get a balance between supply and demand.”

Agureev, who has been the director of Alrosa’s United Selling Organization (USO) since 2017, was promoted to deputy CEO of the group last week.

“Given the difficult conditions in the global diamond market today, Evgeny will continue to improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain of the company and look for new approaches to stimulate rough-diamond sales, as well as to increase the level of interaction with the company’s customers and expand the customer base,” noted Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov.

Source: Diamonds.net

Diamond sales at Lucapa total $49.5 million year-to-date

African miner Lucapa Diamond Company said yesterday its latest sales of diamonds from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola and the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho totaled $10.4 million.

Year to date sales are $45.9 million.

The average price per carat is $1,087 at the Lulo Mine. Excluded from the figures is a 46-carat pink diamond, which has been exported by SML to Antwerp and is being assessed for polishing.

At the Mothae Mine, the average price per carat was $837. The mine began operations in January. The company said the mine has already recovered seven +50 carat diamonds.

Lucapa Diamond is focused on becoming a producer of large and premium-quality diamonds from alluvial and kimberlite sources.

Pink Diamond Nets $20M at Sotheby’s

A pink diamond ring was the top lot at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction this week, garnering HKD 155.8 million ($19.9 million), or $1.9 million per carat.

The cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut, 10.64-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink, internally flawless stone, set between two white trapeze diamonds, had a presale estimate of HKD 150 million to HKD 200 million ($19.1 million to 25.5 million). Total proceeds at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction came to HKD 300.8 million ($38.3 million).

A 100.02-carat, fancy-intense-yellow diamond necklace by Anna Hu, fashioned in the shape of a pipa — a Chinese musical instrument similar to a four-stringed lute — sold for HKD 45.3 million ($5.8 million) against a presale estimate of HKD 40 million to HKD 50 million ($5.1 million to $6.4 million). The necklace was one of five pieces in Hu’s Silk Road Music Collection, all of which found buyers, Sotheby’s told Rapaport News.

Meanwhile, a necklace featuring a pear-shaped, 15.08-carat diamond suspended from a row of alternating step-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds brought in HKD 9.2 million ($1.2 million). It was estimated at HKD 7.6 million to HKD 10 million ($968,860 to $1.3 million).

Three of the auction’s top lots failed to find a buyer, including an emerald-cut, 80.88-carat, D-flawless, type IIa diamond with a presale estimate of $10 million to $12.8 million, Sotheby’s added. An 11.88-carat, pigeon’s blood Burmese ruby and diamond ring by designer Raymond Yard, valued at $5.6 million to $8.2 million, and a jadeite bead necklace with a diamond clasp, estimated at $3.2 million to $4.1 million, also went unsold.

Source: Diamonds.net

Alrosa finds Matryoshka-style stone, the first in diamond mining history

The stone resembles a traditional Russian Matryoshka doll. Image by Alrosa.

An unusual diamond with another diamond found inside was mined in Yakutia at the Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa, the Russian miner announced Friday.

Due to its peculiarity, the stone resembles a traditional Russian Matryoshka doll. According to the experts who have studied the find, this is the first such diamond in the history of global diamond mining, Alrosa said.

According to scientists, the diamond may be over 800 million years old. Despite its complex structure, it weighs only 0.62 carats.

Specialists of the Yakutsk Diamond Trade Enterprise discovered this unusual diamond during a sorting process and handed it over to the Research and Development Geological Enterprise of Alrosa.

There, it was studied using several methods, including Raman and infrared spectroscopies, as well as X-ray microtomography. Based on the results of the study, the scientists have a theory about how the crystal was formed; that there was an internal diamond at first, and the external one was formed during the subsequent stages of growth.

“The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses,” said Oleg Kovalchuk, deputy director, innovations at ALROSA’s Research and Development Geological Enterprise.

“According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the Earth’s surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it.

Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another on the principle of matryoshka nesting doll,” said Kovalchuk.

“As far as we know, there were no such diamonds in the history of global diamond mining yet.”

Source: mining.com

Petra to Hold Special Tender for 20.08-Carat Blue Diamond

Petra Diamonds will hold a special tender of the 20.08-carat blue diamond. The stone, a gem-quality Type llb diamond, was recovered from the Cullinan mine in South Africa last month.

Viewings will take place at Petra’s diamond marketing offices in Johannesburg from November 1-7 and at the Diamond and Exchange and Export Center from November 8-15.

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds could make up to $15 million for a 20.08 carat blue rough diamond it recovered in September at its iconic Cullinan mine, when it goes for sale at a planned tender in Johannesburg next month.

Investment bank Berenberg valued the “exceptional” blue gem quality diamond at between $10 and $15 million, based on prices Petra has achieved for similar roughs from Cullinan in previous years. In 2015, the miner sold “The Blue Moon of Josephine”, a 29.6 carat blue stone, for $48.5 million, marking a world record price per carat at auction for any diamond at the time.

Hong Kong Retail Falls to Record Low

Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong sank in August, marking the sharpest monthly decline on record as protests in the municipality hit tourism and consumption.

Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts dropped 47% year on year to HKD 3.93 billion ($501.3 million) during the month, the municipality’s Census and Statistics Department reported Wednesday. That marks the lowest monthly decline for jewelry since the department began publishing results in 2005, according to a public data archive. Sales across all retail categories slipped 23% to HKD 29.36 billion ($3.74 billion).

Demonstrations against an extradition bill have been escalating since June, forcing luxury stores, train stations and the city’s airport to shut down. Although the bill has been scrapped, unrest has continued, with police reportedly shooting an 18-year-old protester Tuesday, and more than 100 people, including 30 police officers, being hospitalized amid the increased violence.

The situation has led to a sharp decline in travelers from China and abroad, as well as weakened local purchasing. The number of tourists visiting Hong Kong was down 39% to 3.6 million in August, the Hong Kong Tourism Board reported. Of those, 2.8 million came from mainland China, a decline of 42% over the same period last year.

The overall retail decline was “even worse than that recorded in September 1998 during the Asian financial crisis,” a government spokesperson noted. “Apart from the weak consumer sentiment amid subdued economic conditions, the plunge in August mainly reflected the severe disruptions to inbound tourism and consumption-related activities caused by the local social incidents.”

The government expects weakness in the market to continue as conditions persist, it explained.

“Retail sales will likely remain in the doldrums in the near term, as the worsened economic outlook and local protests involving violence continue to weigh on consumer sentiment and inbound tourism,” the spokesperson added.

Swiss bank UBS also expects a continued decline in the market, noting a more challenging outlook for hard luxury, which includes jewelry and watches, versus soft luxury, comprising bags, leather and clothing.

“This is particularly prevalent in the Chinese market, with hard luxury more exposed to recent [yuan] depreciation and protests in Hong Kong,” the bank explained. “Because of their long-term availability and high price tag, these are less likely to benefit from repatriation of demand in case of short-term disruptions in Hong Kong. Note that 50% of Chinese diamond jewelry was purchased in Hong Kong in 2018, [so] the near-term disruptions to sales [are] likely to be significant.”

In the first eight months of the year, retail sales of jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts decreased 14% to HKD 50.06 billion ($6.38 billion). Sales in all retail categories for the January-to-July period fell 6% to HKD 305.05 billion ($38.9 billion).

Source: diamonds.net

Diamond terminology guideline

When buying a Natural mined diamond make sure the diamond report has the following clearly at the top of the report.

Diamond or Natural diamond, Make sure you diamond is natural by looking for the following on the report “Natural Diamond” this refers to the origin and the absence of treatments

Hailey and Justin Bieber flaunt $750k worth of jewels

Justin 25 and Hailey Bieber 22 have unveiled the extremely blingy additions to their second wedding, including her dazzling wedding band and his grills.

After tying the knot in South Carolina’s Montage Palmetto Bluffs on Monday, the duo and their superstar guests have been intricately documenting the big day on social media, with their latest snaps showing their blinged up look.

In striking black and white shots taken in the photobooth, the couple showed off what amounted to an estimated $750,000.

The not so newlyweds who first tied the knot over a year ago, kicked off the night by exchanging vows in a chapel in front of a legion of celebrity guests.

Hailey perfectly matched her $500,000 engagement ring with a diamond wave shape band, believed to have come from Tiffany & Co.

The Vogue model was also seen wearing a large pair of platinum set studs from the designer jewelry brand that were over five carats and worth over $123,000.

Justin meanwhile opted for a more simple look than his blinged up bride as he donned a band of a thicker design on his wedding ring finger.

But that wasn’t the only piece of jewelry for the Sorry pop star, rocking his Israeli diamond $25,000 lavender grillz.

Justin showcased his new accessory on social media last week and it is estimated to be worth $25000.

The singer also accessorised with his new $100,000 Audemars Piguet watch that he splurged on just days before the big day.

Source: dailymail

Gold, diamonds from 2 African nations caught in U.S. forced-labor probe

Products from Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo are among those from five nations to be seized by the United States at its borders because they are believed linked to forced-labor violations.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Tuesday it initiated its investigation following complaints from the public and other sources. The allegations led to the issue of a Withhold Release Order for the five products, which include gold from artisanal small mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and diamonds from the Marange Diamond Fields in Zimbabwe. The Marange site has a long history of alleged human rights abuses, from a 2008 massacre of civilians to 2018, when new reports of forced labor and other rights violations emerged.

“A major part of CBP’s mission is facilitating legitimate trade and travel,” said Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan. “CBP’s issuing of these five withhold release orders shows that if we suspect a product is made using forced labor, we’ll take that product off U.S. shelves.”

Because it is illegal to import goods linked to forced labor into the U.S., the CBP has the authority to order their detention but also their release. “Importers have the opportunity to either re-export the detained shipments at any time or to submit information to CBP demonstrating that the goods are not in violation,” the agency said.

Also listed were specific garments from China, rubber gloves from Malaysia and bone-black char from Brazil.

Source: africatimes