news – Page 28 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Diamond Store’s Shutdown Leaves Customers Seeking Gems, Money And Answers

A popular diamond business appears to have abruptly shut down, leaving paying customers without their jewelry.

The company website says it is not accepting orders and a growing number of disgruntled Enchanted Diamonds customers like Rebecca Zuzula say they never received the precious stones they paid for.

“Many of us wired the money,” said Zuzula. “Several used a credit card but as of maybe the first week of June or so, we quit hearing back from the owner.”

The Better Business Bureau in New York City says it has recently received 24 complaints from consumers in 11 states about transactions with Enchanted Diamonds.

Zuzula says her jewelry was supposed to be an anniversary gift from her husband.

She claims Enchanted Diamonds president Joshua Niamehr took their money and disappeared.

“I think he stole more than money from people,” said Zuzula. “I think he stole their memories.”

Several customers originally discovered Enchanted Diamonds on the website RareCarat, a search engine for diamonds and diamond dealers.

Ajay Anand, the CEO of Rare Carat, tells CBS2 it will file a lawsuits and pay legal fees for those claiming to be victims of Enchanted Diamonds whether they used his site to find the company or not.

He says he’s heard from more than 60 alleged victims.

“We did everything we could to vet this company,” said Anand. “This was unforeseeable. I think all the evidence will point to that.”

CBS2’s attempts to contact the president of Enchanted Diamonds were unsuccessful.

Some frustrated customers say they plan to sue.

The Better Business Bureau says anyone who thinks they’re a victim should file a complaint with them or a report with the New York state attorney general.

Source: cbslocal

Christie’s Breaks Records with $109M Auction

The Belle Époque Devan-de-corsage brooch

Christie’s Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence sale brought in more than $109 million, the highest total for any auction featuring Indian art.

The top lot was a Belle Époque brooch, created by Cartier in 1912, which fetched $10.6 million at the New York auction on Wednesday. The piece features a number of diamonds, including a pear brilliant-cut, 34.08-carat, E-color, VS1-clarity, and an oval brilliant-cut, 23.55-carat, D-color, VVS2-clarity stone. The brooch had a pre-sale estimate of $10 million to $15 million.

Other notable items included The Mirror of Paradise, a rectangular-cut, 52.58-carat, D-color, type IIa, internally flawless diamond ring, which sold for $6.5 million, below its low-end estimate of $7 million. The Shah Jahan dagger, named for India’s fifth Mughal emperor, sold for $3.4 million, and set a record price for an Indian jade object and a record price for a piece with Shah Jahan provenance.

Christie’s also sold The Arcot II, a pear-shaped, brilliant-cut, 17.21-carat diamond, found in India’s Golconda region in the late 18th century. The stone — given to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain by the regional ruler of India, the Nawab of Arcot — garnered $3.4 million, within its presale value of $2 million to $4 million.

Signed pieces by Cartier and contemporary jewels by JAR and Bhagat also did well, greatly exceeding their estimates, Christie’s noted, with all items on offer selling.

“The strong results today, after 12 hours of non-stop bidding, in front of a packed room and with phone and online bidders from all over the world, reflect the exceptional quality of this special collection and position it among the most storied private collections ever featured at auction,” said Christie’s CEO Guillaume Cerutti.

The sale also ranks as the second-highest auction total for a private jewelry collection, coming from the Al-Thani dynasty, the ruling family of Qatar. The highest total for a private collection is held by The Legendary Jewels — the Elizabeth Taylor’s collection — which garnered $115.9 million.

Overall, Christie’s sold 93% of the lots on offer at this week’s sale.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers Can Do More, Botswana Group Says

A Botswana employers’ advocacy group has called out De Beers for failing to provide substantial opportunities for the country’s businesspeople.

“The benefits deriving from the diamond industry have unfortunately not been enjoyed by Batswana entrepreneurs,” Gobusamang Keebine, president of Business Botswana, said in a speech during the fifth regional High Level Consultative Conference (HLCC) in Francistown on Saturday. A transcript was posted on the Botswana government’s Facebook page.

“[De Beers] has done very little to add to economic activity in Botswana and improve Batswana business participation in the industry,” he stressed.

De Beers is about to start negotiations on a new supply and marketing agreement with the Botswana government, as the current contract expires in 2020. While the sales partnership between the two has created more than 3,600 jobs for local citizens, the bulk of those were lower-level positions, and there has been little change over the years, Keebine noted.

The current 10-year agreement from 2011 led De Beers to relocate its sorting and sales operations from London to Gaborone – a move that failed to offer prospects for local entrepreneurs, Keebine claimed. The miner should learn from Chinese businesses operating in Botswana’s construction center, who have been transferring their skills to locals, he urged.

Keebine also took aim at Okavango Diamond Company, which was created in 2012 to sell 15% of local mining company Debswana’s production on behalf of the government. While Okavango is operating as a commercial entity, it doesn’t promote beneficiation and citizen empowerment, he said.

Business Botswana has asked the government to allow it to participate in negotiations with De Beers, as the company’s supply agreement is up for renewal in 2020. “It is imperative that a greater sense of urgency is given to reforms that will ensure that Batswana entrepreneurs are able to benefit,” Keebine added.

A De Beers spokesperson dismissed the critique, arguing that the company leads the industry in terms of developing prospects for local entrepreneurs.

“De Beers Group has a long and proud history of creating value and opportunities for Batswana and we will continue to do so,” David Johnson, head of strategic communications for De Beers, told Rapaport News Monday. “Our beneficiation approach is underpinned by a system…that creates the most value in [the] country by skills transfer and local rough-diamond utilization.”

The relocation of the company’s sightholder sales to Gaborone has had a significant positive impact on the country as well, Johnson points out. “[It] has been instrumental in developing Batswana professionals in key business management roles.”

The miner supports a number of initiatives which benefit the country’s professionals as well, including a leadership program with the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Tokafala enterprise development program, which offers small, micro and medium-sized businesses mentoring and access to market; and a partnership with UN Women to support female entrepreneurs, Johnson added.

Source: Diamonds.net

HRD Antwerp opens new drop-off point in Hatton Garden

HRD Antwerp has expanded into the UK market with the opening of a new drop-off point in London’s jewellery quarter.

According to the diamond certification firm, the supply if lab-grown diamonds is ever increasing, and this is resulting in jewellers unknowingly selling jewellery which features a mix of natural and man-made stones. To help combat this, HRD Antwerp has introduced a new service for jewellery grading.

The new London drop-off point will give UK jewellers easy access to HRD Antwerp’s services, including jewellery and diamond grading reports at very competitive rates. The comprehensive grading report will provide jewellers with peace of mind, reassuring them that all of their diamonds are indeed natural, and not laboratory grown.

“There are increasing amounts of laboratory grown diamonds available on the market,” says HRD Antwerp commercial director, David Ziegler. “In an industry where so much relies on trust, it’s essential that you safeguard your reputation by certifying that all of your diamonds are natural and untreated.

A cost-effective grading report from HRD Antwerp is the most trusted and efficient way of ensuring all of your unmounted and mounted diamonds are 100% natural.”

The new drop-off point in London is designed to be convenient and easy to use. Loose diamonds and diamond jewellery can be brought or shipped to the London drop-off point. The diamonds are then sent to HRD Antwerp’s grading lab for comprehensive testing and grading, before being returned to London.

Each unmounted diamond will be accompanied by a grading report which clearly specifies that the diamond is natural, and rates it against the 4Cs. Each diamond jewellery piece will be issued with a unique grading report specifying the same.

Source: professionaljeweller

US Polished Imports Slump in April

The US polished diamond trade slowed in April, with imports declining and exports stable.

The drop in import value reflects both a lower volume and average price.

Polished imports volumes 682,140 carats -9% Average price of polished imports $2,193/carat -12%

The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is a net importer of polished.

As such, net polished imports representing polished imports minus polished exports will usually be a positive number.

Net rough imports calculated as rough imports minus rough exports will also generally be in surplus.

The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a manufacturing sector, so normally ships more rough in than out.

The net diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports.

It is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by importing and ultimately consuming diamonds.

Source: Diamonds.net

Lab grown diamond technology is disrupting the diamond business

Lab-grown diamonds that producers say have all the characteristics of the ones that were formed deep in the Earth naturally are finding a place in the market. The Robb Report estimates that lab-grown diamonds sales will reach $420 million this year. That’s almost 3% of the $14 billion annual diamond market.

Spence Diamonds, a 40-year-old Canadian fine jeweler, has expanded into lab-grown diamonds and is opening stores in the U.S., including three in Texas: West Village in Uptown Dallas, Legacy West in Plano and The Domain in Austin.

Government regulators and industry groups are all over the topic.

In April, the Federal Trade Commission searched through diamond jewelry ads and on social media to see what shoppers were being told.

The agency found eight businesses using ads that could be deceptive or not in line with its jewelry guides. Spence Diamonds was not one of those.

Earlier, the FTC had removed the word “synthetic” from lab-grown diamonds but told jewelers that they must specify clearly to shoppers that the diamonds are lab-grown. And jewelers must use a different scale than they do for Earth-mined diamonds.

At the Spence store in the West Village, 500 bridal settings are displayed in traditional glass cases, but they’re open. The rings have glass stones, so shoppers can try on all they want without being watched or having to wait for someone to help them.

Lab-grown diamonds are priced lower. Spence sells a mined 1.5 carat diamond solitaire ring for $12,179 and one with a lab-grown 2.3 carat diamond for $10,739.

“We’re aware that the U.S. and Dallas is saturated with jewelry stores, but we love how we are positioned,” said Veeral Rathod, Spence Diamonds’ CEO and the former CEO and co-founder of Dallas-based J. Hilburn. He joined the Vancouver-based company in September.

Spence will make any engagement ring, either in one of its 3,000 settings or a special design brought in by the customer and make it out of either mined or lab-grown diamonds. That’s also true with stud earrings, he said, and the jewelry can be customized to fit the shopper’s budget.

Why is this happening? Some consumers are drawn to them over environmental or political concerns.

Others simply prefer a bigger stone for less money.

“Technology and science has made it possible, and the FTC has confirmed that they are chemically and physically the same,” Rathod said. “We just have to be sure the customer knows what they’re buying, and let the consumer make an informed decision.”

Source: telegraphherald

ALROSA SELLS $2.2 MILLION OF POLISHED AT ISRAEL DIAMOND EXCHANGE

Alrosa sold 14 polished diamonds weighing a total of 108 carats, and 48 fancy colored polished diamonds weighing 131.6 carats in total.

Companies from Israel, the US, Belgium, India, Hong Kong and Russia participated in the tender. The next polished tender in Israel is scheduled for this fall.

Pavel Vinikhin, Director of the DIAMONDS ALROSA cutting division, commented: “There is a continued interest in large polished diamonds over 3 carats in the market. Our assortment mostly consists of such stones.

In Israel, we presented polished diamonds of different colors and cuts. Despite the relatively weak market, the auction went well, and we are pleased with the results”.

Rare Golconda Diamonds

The Nizam of Hyderabad’s diamond encrusted ceremonial sword and Shah Jahan’s jade hilted dagger are some of the items being put up for auction.

Several precious artefacts of the Nizam era and diamonds mined from Golconda during the Qutb Shahi period will be put up for auction at global auction house Christie’s at New York on June 19. The diamonds, better known as the Golconda Diamonds, are flawless precious stones expected to fetch a whopping amount of money for the auctioneers.

The event by the 253-year-old auction house is titled ‘Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence’. According to reports, several precious Golconda diamonds are being put up for auction along with the Nizam of Hyderabad’s diamond encrusted ceremonial sword set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

Among these, one of the most precious stones is the 10.46 carat Pink Golconda diamond. An internally flawless stone, the value of the diamond is estimated to be between $1.5 – $2 million. The diamond was unearthed during the Qutb Shahi era from the banks of river Krishna, 200 km southeast of Golconda.

Source: thenewsminute

Vutomi to sell diamonds recovered from South Africa project

Botswana Diamonds associate Vutomi has received approval to sell diamonds recovered during a bulk sampling programme at the Thorny River project in South Africa.

The Thorny River bulk sampling project is a joint venture between SouthernEra, Palaeo and Vutomi.

SouthernEra holds a 40% interest in the project and provides processing services while Palaeo holds a 40% stake and serves as the mining contractor. The remaining 20% interest is owned by Vutomi, which provides the ground.

Until 10 June, 256 carat of rough diamonds were recovered. Sale of these diamonds from the bulk sampling will fund further development by Vutomi, in which Botswana holds a 40% stake.

The trenching programme has identified a hotspot at the project site with a thick, 4m wide kimberlite intersection, indicating a kimberlite blow.

According to Botswana Diamonds, the bulk sampling programme is expected to generate short-term cash flow while developing the mineral resource.

Botswana Diamonds’ partner, SouthernEra Diamonds, has included its coarse tailings dumps produced from the mining of the Marsfontein and Klipspringer diamond mines into the same revenue share partnership agreement.

Vutomi has obtained a Section 27 mining permit for a portion of the contiguous Marsfontein farm.

Part of this farm hosts rich M8 kimberlite dyke, bordering the Marsfontein diamond mine.

Botswana Diamonds is a diamond exploration and project development company with exploration licences in Botswana and South Africa.

Source: mining-technology.com

Bluerock Diamonds’ shares jump on record find

BlueRock Diamonds shares were up 15% on the London Stock Exchange Friday after the miner announced it had recovered its largest diamond to date, a 24.9 carat gem quality stone.

BlueRock owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa. The miner’s largest diamond prior was 16.28 carats, which sold for $78,947.

“This record recovery of such a high-quality diamond is an exciting milestone and underpins why we are so confident about the potential of the Kareevlei mine. We have a comprehensive development plan to increase production and look forward to providing further updates as we progress,” executive chairman Mike Houston said in a media statement.

The diamond will be put to tender, the results of which will be announced June 17, the company said.

BlueRock’s shares were priced at 11 pence on the LSE late Friday, on a day that saw trading volume at 61.9 million, mover six times the average daily trading volume is 9.5 million. The company has a £1.8 million market capitalization.

Source: mining.com