The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)
Buy and sell diamonds with the help of the experts
De Beers Diamond trading Company (DTC) reduced sight prices by an estimated average of 8 % at its week. The sights total value is estimated at $580 million USD and all site boxes were taken.
Price were down across the range with reductions of up to 17 % for better-quality goods.
DTC is said that rough prices have now in line with polished, which have since stabilized.
DTC sales have declined by 23 % year on year to about $4 billion.
Lonrho Mining and joint venture partner Endiama Diamond Company working in the Lulo Diamond Concession located near the Cuango River in northeastern Angola, have recovered Diamonds from the valley of the Cacuilo River within the Lulo Concession.
The larger of the two stones is a 131.5-carat diamond, the biggest diamond recovered since it began treating alluvial gravels at the Lulo project in 2010.
The recovery of the two diamonds comes as Lonrho prepares for the drilling of 61 prioritized kimberlitic targets at the 3000-square-kilometer Lulo Concession.
JewelleryNet Asia will hold the free seminars on digital marketing workshops at the upcoming September Hong Kong Jewellery Fair.
A similar seminar was held during the June Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Show , Based on the success, organizers UBM Asia decided to repeat the venture. The workshops will take place at the fairground in the morning before opening.
The presentations include know-how and practical tips as well as statistics and data taken from JewelleryNet’s original research and analytics.
Many jewellery professionals have difficulties in keeping up with the fast developments online. But using digital channels as tools to generate new leads and enhancing existing business jewellers can generate a direct advantage.
With the workshops, we intend to break down the challenges of the online environment into simple steps.
The Hong Kong diamond industry has announced its impressions of a new fast and efficient method of manufacturing synthetic diamonds. The CVD process has become more common in recent years.
Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) created diamonds were submitted to the laboratory for expert analysis. All of the CVD synthetic round brilliant polished diamonds submitted to the Laboratory last, had a colour and appearance comparable to top quality natural diamonds.
Though some weak graining and tiny pinpoints were found in the stones, Graders observed no fractures or inclusions.
These qualities earned the stones clarity grades of anywhere from VVS1 to VVS2, with a single stone graded as a VS1.
None of them responded significantly to long-wave ultra-violet radiation.
All IDC Laboratories are able to identify treated and Synthetic stones.
If your diamond is uncertified, or has been graded without being tested. Contact the DCLA for advice.
Botswana produces more gem quality diamonds from sparsely populated country than any other nation. Anglo formally offered the Botswana government a pro-rata share of the Oppenheimer family’s 40% stake under a long-standing pre-emption agreement.
Botswana never exercised the right to raise its shareholding in the company to 25% from 15%. The reason given it, would have cost it $1.3 billion. at a time when it is striving to contain government spending,
De Beers remains the world’s largest Gem quality diamond producer by value.
The new HRD Antwerp lab is located in the heart of the new diamond district.
HRD offers quality certification services in accordance with the IDC that reflect its pledge to ensure compliance with the same stringent quality standards applied in Antwerp, where its parent lab is located. The new facility is staffed with both local and Antwerp expert gemmologists.
De Beers groups sales declined 14%as earnings fell to $386 million in the first half of 2012,
De Beers observed tight liquidity persisted in India although that DTC prices remained stable.
DTC sightholders were seeing high inventories in the cutting centers. De Beers Jewellers saw a decline in the high-end market.
De Beers mining giant expects trading to remain week in the second half of 2012, but anticipates global diamond jewellery sales to see slight growth.
The Us and Europe are expected to remain weak. With China, Japan and the Gulf contributing the bulk of the growth.
Zimbabwe plans to enforce a 100% ownership of diamonds, among a raft of measures designed to leverage on the country’s mining sector.
The move is set to plug leakages and ensure that the country benefits from its natural resources. The move is likely to set government on a collision course with investors already operating in the diamond industry.
In his mid-term fiscal policy review on Wednesday, Finance minister, Tendai Biti, said government had approved a diamond policy to enforce government’s 100% ownership of diamonds.
Biti said government had also approved the enactment of the Diamond Exploration Act that issues a directive to prohibit the exportation of unpolished or uncut diamonds.
He said there would be immediate separation of diamond mining from marketing.
CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has addressed the annual High Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations in New York, expressing the concern of the jewellery industry that the global economic crisis is affecting job creation in the business sector, and consequently is undermining the fight against poverty.
The focus of this year’s ECOSOC High Level Segment was the global job crunch, and the need to stimulate the creation of decent and sustainable employment. The theme of the event was "Promoting productive capacity and decent work to eradicate poverty in the context of inclusive sustainable and equitable economic growth at all levels for achieving the Millennium Developments Goals (MDG)." Speaking at the opening, ECOSOC President Milos Koterec put the figure of unemployed at 205 million worldwide, and said that "work is worryingly difficult to find, and finding decent, meaningful work, harder still."
ECOSOC is the UN forum in which representatives of government, business and civil society discuss the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges, and policy recommendations are made. More than 500 delegates attended the High Level Segment in New York, where CIBJO was the world jewellery industry’s sole representative. CIBJO has held consultative status in ECOSOC since 2006.
Delivering his remarks to the High Level Segment, Dr. Cavalieri expressed the jewellery industry’s continuing support for the United National development objectives. "We strongly promote at CIBJO the 10 Global Compact Principles for our industries as well as our support for the achievement of the UN Millennium Goals by 2015," he said.
However, noted the CIBJO President, "global recession and the current world financial crisis are accelerating poverty worldwide, and this is defeating the first Millennium Development Goal to eradicate poverty. Chronic unemployment figures and the social exclusion of millions of the world’s youth must be resolved to avoid a lost generation of young workers."
Dr. Cavalieri described to participants at the ECOSOC meeting programmes that have been undertaken to stimulate grass-roots economic and social development in the countries and regions in which the jewellery and gemstone sectors are active. This includes the establishment in 2011 in Antwerp by CIBJO with partners of an International Training Centre for Corporate Opportunities (ITCCO), which provides training to a young generation from developing countries, in order to help them adapt to the new business environment, improve their skills and create jobs which can compete in the global market.
"We believe that it is the duty of each and every industrial sector to provide training opportunities for the younger generations, in order to better prepare them for the evolving labour market which now operates in a very competitive global environment," the CIBJO President said. "Education and training are a prerequisite for the eradication of poverty in the world."
During his stay in New York, Dr. Cavalieri held a private meeting with Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, the vice president of ECOSOC. Also serving as the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador de Alba earlier served as the first ever President of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
At an ECOSOC side event, Dr. Cavalieri was a participant in a panel discussion at the UN Headquarters looking at the impact of the financial crisis on youth unemployment in partnership with "The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development." Among the other panel members were representatives of the Dominican Republic, the Special Coordinator for Civil Society in Office of the President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, and the head of the office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination.
The panel discussion recognized that young people are playing an increasingly important role in social movements calling for democracy, equal opportunities and better employment, but noted UN data that indicates that they are three times more likely than adults to be unemployed. Dr Cavalieri concluded the panel on youth unemployment by stressing "the importance of giving youth our testimony on going forward in life and bringing the basic principles of family with them."
The 2012 ECOSOC High-Level Segment concluded with the adoption on July 10 of a draft ministerial declaration that had been submitted by the president. The resolution encourages strong collaboration and partnerships in order to address the challenges of youth unemployment. Furthermore, it urges the sharing of experiences and effective practices, along with the creation and strengthening of youth programmes, such as the United Nations Volunteers, that focus on employment.
Oppenheimer family’s 40% stake in De Beers has been approved by the Department of Mineral Resources
The $5,1bn purchase of the Oppenheimer family’s 40% stake in De Beers by Anglo American has completed one hurdle of the sale.
Anglo has opted to grow aggressively in diamonds field unlike BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto who are seeking buyers for their diamond assets.
The Botswana government has the option to lift its holding to 25%, buying part of the Oppenheimer stake. They currently have a 15% stake in De Beers.
De Beers two major mines Jwaneng mine in Botswana and Venetia mine in South Africa produce most of the gem quality diamonds contributing to De Beers production.
Capital Markets have forecast soft prices for rough diamonds. But De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier has said the longer-term outlook for diamonds is strong, with strong demand from China and India for diamond jewellery.