Alrosa Raises Rough Prices Again

Alrosa Rough Diamonds

Alrosa has increased prices for the third consecutive contract sale, fueling concerns about unsustainable growth and tight manufacturing profits.

The adjustments were 4% to 5% on average, with a focus on 1-carat rough and larger, insiders told Rapaport News this week. Prices of that category are now higher than pre-pandemic levels, a customer noted.

Alrosa declined to comment on its “commercial strategy,” but a spokesperson said the Russian miner “assures that prices for its goods follow the real, confirmed demand from the midstream sector.”

The sale, which took place this week, came amid strong rough demand following positive holiday seasons in the US and China. But there were warnings of a slowdown as the quiet season approaches.

“Since the rough market is so strong, everyone accepts the [prices], but it’s becoming a bubble that might explode,” a source cautioned.

Industry members highlighted possible challenges for manufacturers. Rough prices have outpaced polished, they claimed, with the upcoming slow months raising concerns about end demand.

“[The miners have] taken away all the profit margin from the manufacturing pipeline, because…when the polished is ready, the polished market will be slightly weaker than today,” an Alrosa customer explained. “Probably, we will all lose some money, and not even make the costs.”

Alrosa maintained its policy of allowing customers to refuse any unwanted goods — a concession that has been in place since the start of the pandemic.

However, some clients felt compelled to buy to ensure they retain their allocations in the new contract period, which begins April 1, one customer pointed out. Even so, rough sales at the trading session will likely be lower than the $421 million it reported for January and the $361 million it garnered in February, reflecting a drop in the miner’s supply, he added.

De Beers: Less availability

De Beers will also offer limited supply at its sight next week as its reduced production plan for 2021 has affected availability. Sources expect sales of around $400 million, compared with $663 million in January and $550 million in February. The company lowered its full-year production forecast in January because of operational issues at some of its mines.

“We continue to take a prudent approach with our mine plans given the ongoing pandemic and associated uncertainty,” a De Beers spokesperson said Wednesday.

With fewer goods on the table, further price increases by De Beers are unlikely at next week’s sale, a sightholder predicted. The miner already increased prices in December, January and February, reversing a sharp price cut it implemented in August.

“There was a major pushback on the goods last month,” the sightholder commented. “In anything that [produces] pointers and large [polished goods], they went way too far, and everybody said so. There were also refusals. If [prices] go up now, everyone will just leave the goods.”

Source: Diamonds.net

A Nearly 64 Carat Diamond Cartier Bracelet Could Fetch HK$40 Million at Sotheby’s

Cartier diamond bracelet

An iconic Cartier bracelet with 63.66 carats of pear-shaped D color, internally flawless diamond set on rock crystal is expected to fetch between HK$40 million and HK$65 million (US$5.16 million and US$8.39 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s sale of magnificent jewels in April.

Taking nearly 2,000 hours to create, the bangle-bracelet from the collection “L’Odyssée de Cartier —Parcours d’un Style,” pays homage to an Art Deco inspiration featuring sparkling stones and the French maison’s emblematic panther, orchid, and Oriental motifs.

Louis Cartier, the brand’s third-generation jeweler was a pioneer in working with rock crystal, which became popular in the 1920s. Cartier utilized a polishing technique from the Renaissance period to give a soft shine to rock crystal which, when paired with a diamond, creates an intriguing light effect.

The unique piece “combines a phenomenal diamond, mesmerizing design and impeccable craftsmanship, and represents a high jewelry collectible that will shine through time,” Wenhao Yu, deputy chairman of jewelry at Sotheby’s Asia, said in a statement.

Also on offer is “Circle of Happiness,” a bangle made of 277.7 carats of green jadeite-jade from Myanmar. Sotheby’s did not disclose the estimate of this bracelet.

Sotheby’s sale of magnificent jewels will also feature pieces from the houses of Boucheron, Bulgari, Chanel, Chopard, Graff, Harry Winston, Hermès, Van Cleef & Arpels, and more.

“The appetite for high-quality jewels has never been stronger in Asia, with discerning collectors looking for rare diamonds and gemstones, as well as unique and iconic designs,” Yu said.

Source: barrons

Two Major Trade Bodies Sign Partnership Deal

rough diamonds

The World Diamond Council (WDC) and the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) have agreed to work together on key issues such as the Kimberley Process (KP), conflict diamonds and sustainability.

The two organizations have entered into a cross-membership partnership, meaning the RJC has become a member of the WDC, and the WDC has become a member of the RJC, they said Tuesday. The groups have also signed mutual codes of conduct.

An RJC official will join the WDC’s Kimberley Process (KP) Task Force and participate in discussions about matters including the expansion of the KP’s definition of conflict diamonds, principles for responsible diamond sourcing, and the worldwide adoption of the WDC’s System of Warranties. Meanwhile, a WDC official will become part of an RJC task force that focuses on ensuring the jewelry and watch industry achieves the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both appointments will take effect immediately.

The WDC and the RJC will report to their members on progress with the System of Warranties and the SDGs, and will help people in the industry apply them into their own businesses.

“Cooperation at this level is critical to raising the level of knowledge about responsible sourcing, driving action, and having a positive impact on all businesses, small and large, at every level of the diamond supply chain,” said Elodie Daguzan, the WDC’s executive director. “Through this partnership, we can do more to increase understanding of the [Kimberley Process Certification Scheme] and present a united industry front dedicated to broadening its scope through the expansion of the definition of conflict diamonds.”

Source; Diamonds.net

US Sanctions on Myanmar Receive Broad Support

The,Burmese,Gems,Trader,Is,Offering,The,Variety,Of,Gem

Members of the jewelry industry are confident that US sanctions on Burmese gems will punish leaders of the Asian country’s military coup without damaging the trade.

The Myanmar army seized control of the country on February 1. On February 11, US President Joe Biden’s administration banned US companies from transacting with three entities that, it claimed, were associated with the perpetrators of the takeover: Myanmar Ruby Enterprise, Myanmar Imperial Jade Co., and Cancri (Gems and Jewellery) Co.

Crucially, the US did not blacklist all gemstones coming out of Myanmar (also known as Burma) — the most important of which are rubies and jade. This contrasts with the old sanctions regime, the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act, which lasted from 2008 until 2016 but attracted criticism for harming the wrong people.

“[Those] sanctions really didn’t affect the generals at all, but they definitely affected the traders, the small business people,” said Jeffrey Bilgore, a gemstone dealer and former president of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA). He expressed hope that the targeted nature of the new actions would have more effect.

“These sanctions are intended, first, to hurt the military leaders and to restrict their activity, and to prevent US businesses from doing business with them,” added Sara Yood, senior counsel at the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

The State Department has told the JVC that it had no interest in a blanket ban on gemstone imports from Myanmar, “because they know that it hurts the small artisanal miners, which just hurts the actual people of Myanmar,” Yood revealed.

The JVC, like other trade groups, has published guidance for industry members, urging them to check the origin of their gems and cease doing business with any of the banned companies.

US companies should ask suppliers for written assurances that the colored gemstones they are buying from them do not originate from any of the sanctioned entities, Jewelers of America (JA) instructed. But the restrictions shouldn’t heavily impact the supply chain, said JA CEO David Bonaparte.

“I don’t think you’re going to see the dealers saying [they] can’t get ruby anymore from Myanmar,” Bonaparte pointed out. “Other legitimate companies are still able to do business, and there are legitimate companies that are not sanctioned.”

Still, there is some confusion over how much of the Myanmar gem industry is under the control of those three companies.

“I’m hearing [from the State Department] that [these businesses are] pretty significant,” Yood said. “From American gem dealers, I’m hearing that they’ve never heard of these companies. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not significant. It may just be that by the time it gets to the US, it’s gone through 12 different hands.”

The vast majority of Myanmar’s jade goes to China, where the gem is highly popular. The more significant product for the US market is ruby.

Some rubies, especially lower-value ones, go through long and complex supply chains. This could lead to a greater bureaucratic burden for buyers and dealers.

“I would expect that if you are maybe not a US business, but you’re an intermediary type of gemstone dealer located outside the US, you can expect that your US customers are going to be asking for documentation that these gemstones have not come from one of these three companies,” said Yood at the JVC.

Source: Diamonds.net

Dividend-paying Gem Diamonds working on technologies to reduce diamond damage

clifford elphick

Diamond mining and marketing company Gem Diamonds is advancing innovative technologies that reduce diamond damage by extracting rock nonmechanically and being able to see diamonds in a certain size of rock, Gem CEO Clifford Elphick said on Thursday when the London-listed company reported positive operational and financial results, the Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding.

On revenue of $189.6-million and underlying operational earnings of $53.2-million, Gem directors have proposed dividends of 2.5c a share in a year in which it recovered 16 diamonds larger than 100 ct each compared with 11 in 2019.

Gem achieved an average value of $1 908/ct, with the highest value of $38 827/ct achieved for a white rough diamond.

Its Letšeng mine, located in the Maluti mountains of Lesotho, is known for the recovery of large quality diamonds, including 2020’s 439 ct Letšeng Icon, which the company displayed during the presentation, along with six other large stones, one of them an 112 ct yellow diamond.

Gem Diamonds owns 70% and the Lesotho government 30% of the mine’s holding company Letšeng Diamonds.

Elaborating on damage-reducing technologies, Elphick said at the presentation covered by Mining Weekly: “There are two aspects to it. The one is to get the diamonds out of the rock using non-mechanical means. We’ve ticked the box there. That has gone well and we’re very comfortable with the final stage of the process.

“The first stage of the process was to see the diamonds in the rock. That didn’t deliver as well as we thought it might do. We have brought that plant back to Johannesburg. We have pulled it apart, taken out what wasn’t working. We’re busy putting it back together again. Of course, as things move, computing power improves. The detection units are improving as well as the pixilation capabilities, and so we are upgrading that plant and moving to pilot plant two.

“The ambition remains the same: to be able to see diamonds in a certain size of rock and then to be able to eject them at the speed which is required to meet a commercial need. We can do this at slow speeds but that doesn’t really help us. It’s a question of improving and making this faster. So, technology advances, we seem to rush forward and then crawl forward and then have a rush forward, and that’s exactly where we are. We’ve got a team coming here from Europe in the next month to take this forward to the next step,” Elphick outlined.

Letšeng has an opencast life-of-mine that stretches to the 2030s. “We’ll need to start looking at the underground, and that will come at some point in time,” said Elphick.

On Gem’s climate-change adaption plan, Elphick spoke of a lot of work going into the company’s adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: “A lot of work goes into this and we make a major effort there,” he said.

On the 2020 diamond market, he noted that demand growth, particularly in China, the US, India and Australia, was showing strong post-Covid recovery, which was pushing its way through to stock market valuations. “And we know there’s a correlation between stock market valuations and diamond prices; that correlation was a little bit disturbed, but is now back, we think, with diamond prices rising quite strongly. Inflation started to appear but very much recent information it seems as it’s not quite as frothy as one might have expected, but no doubt as the world roars back from the Covid crisis, we may well see some inflation, and, of course, that’s helpful for diamond prices,” he said.

He described the 2020 holiday retain season as being strong, with the maturing Chinese and Indian consumer markets continuing to show strong growth trends.

Midstream inventory and debt levels decreased substantially and this part of the diamond pipeline was in relatively much better shape than for some time.

“And we’re not finding, at this point, the synthetic diamonds are having any impact on the demand or the prices for the sorts of goods that the Letšeng orebody delivers,” he said, adding that being the highest dollar per carat kimberlite producer was a good position to be in.

“We’ve had a good year in terms of recoveries on almost all categories, but particularly the top end,” he said.

Elphick said Gem had been participating in trials to capture additional value, involving its goods being polished into the high-end luxury brands strategy, and the company was capturing some of the additional value between rough and polished and finding its way into the brand. So far we’ve had a good experience and we’re pushing these trials out further to see what it might mean in the longer term. We’re quite excited about that,” Elphick said.

Mining Weekly put these two questions to Gem relating to going green and decarbonising:

What steps is Gem taking to be carbon neutral. Is Gem replacing fossil electricity with renewable energy, and when will Gem likely be carbon neutral? Or will the company opt for carbon offsets?
What value does Gem place in potentially becoming a miner and a marketer of carbon-neutral diamonds, or is the market not demanding decarbonised diamonds currently?
In response, Elphick said: “Diamonds are carbon so it is difficult to sell non-carbon diamonds. I’m not trying to be facetious, but we haven’t got into this in as much detail as your question is assuming.

“There is a big debate on the footprint of mining and there’s quite a complicated answer. There is a little bit of work being done particularly on man-made diamonds to what their carbon footprint and how their carbon footprint is hugely in excess of naturally mined diamonds.

“If you wouldn’t mind us coming back to you in time with a more considered answer to get into best practice, but at this point frankly I don’t have an intelligent answer to give you. Buying carbon offsets. That’s the same issue.

“With respect to replacing fossil electricity with renewable energy, we have looked at this in some detail, particularly solar and wind, and the combination. We have assessed this quite often and unfortunately the outcome of that is not good enough from a cost perspective to make a transition right now.

“It is moving in the right direction and there will come a minute when that is right. Of course, we have to also access, not just a straight-forward cost question, but the cost of not doing this and what that does to our contribution to the planet. It’s not just a simple cost answer, but just to give you comfort there that we have looked at this in great detail over a number of years,” Elphick said.

Profit for the year from continuing operations was $27.5-million and attributable profit from continuing operations $16.9-million.

Earnings a share from continuing operations were 12.1c and cash on hand $49.8-million as at December.

At Letšeng, 100 780 ct were recovered in the 12 months to December 31, with waste mined totalling 15.6-million tonnes.

Ore treated of 5.4-million tonnes was below the 6.7-million tonnes of 2019.

Source: miningweekly.com

Israel’s Diamond Trade Sees Strong February

Israel Diamond Exchange complex in Ramat Gan.

 Israel’s diamond exports improved in February amid steady jewelry demand in key retail markets and the opening of a trade channel with Dubai, according to government data.

Polished shipments out of Israel jumped 24% year on year to $251.6 million for the month, with volume increasing 20% to 122,784 carats, the country’s Ministry of Economy and Industry reported last week. Rough exports rose 21% to $124 million, while volume slipped 9% to 188,317 carats.

The ministry attributed the growth to higher demand for studded jewelry in the US and China. As for rough trading, 16% of exports were to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with which Israel reached a peace deal in August, the government noted. Before that, Israel was unable to ship goods directly to Dubai, an important center for rough tenders. The improvement also came despite a February lockdown in Israel, which affected the availability of flights, the ministry pointed out.

“The industry has cause for optimism after a difficult year,” said Ophir Gore, Israel’s diamond controller. “The data that the global diamond sector has seen in the past two months — especially in the American diamond and jewelry market — indicate demand has recovered. The first half of this year is expected to be particularly positive for the industry.”

Source: Diamonds.net

Namibia’s marine diamond miner’s production hit by Covid-19

Namibia’s marine diamond

Debmarine Namibia, a subsidiary of Anglo American’s diamond unit De Beers, on Monday reported a 13% drop in production to 1.125 million carats last year as demand slumped during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Namibia has the richest known marine diamond deposits in the world, and is among the top 10 producers of gem-quality diamonds globally. Production, however, has been severely hampered by weak demand on the international market.


Debmarine’s revenue fell 5% to 6.6 billion Namibian dollars ($427 million), the company said. Royalties and tax to the government also slipped 6%, to 2.1 billion Namibian dollars.

Debmarine Namibia, a 50-50 joint venture company between De Beers and the Namibian government, has partnered with five African commercial banks in a $375 million financing deal to build a new diamond mining vessel.

Chief Executive Otto Shikongo said work on the ship, to be known as the AMV3, was progressing well. Construction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2021, and production from the vessel is planned for the second quarter of 2022.

The ship, with the capacity to add 500 000 carats of annual production, will be the seventh in the Debmarine Namibia joint venture’s fleet, which mines high-quality diamonds from the ocean floor using hi-tech surveying equipment.

Source: moneyweb

Petra sells 299 carat diamond for $12.18 million

299.3-carat, type 11a, white gem-quality diamond

Petra Diamonds has sold a 299.3 carat diamond recovered in January at its iconic Cullinan mine, in South Africa, to Belgium-based Stargems DMCC for $12.18 million.

The exceptional Type 11a white gem-quality rock achieved a price of $40,701 per carat, which exceeds the $34,386/ct received for the 424.89 carat “Legacy of the Cullinan Diamond Mine” in May 2019.

The freshly sold find adds to other most famous diamonds unearthed at Cullinan, such as “The Blue Moon of Josephine”. This 29.6 carat blue diamond sold for $48.5 million in 2015, a world record price per carat for any diamond sold at an auction at the time.

The company’s board approved such reorganization in January, and Petra expects to finish the process around the end of March.

Petra’s shares slumped by more than 80% last year as the covid-19 pandemic battered the global diamond sector, with mines forced to shut down while consumer demand continued to fall.

Source: Mining.com

Meghan Markle accused of wearing earrings from Mohammed bin Salman

Meghan

The Duchess of Sussex wore the dramatic diamond earrings to a state dinner in Fiji, three weeks after the Saudi crown prince allegedly ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Meghan Markle’s representatives hit back Tuesday at a bombshell news report that she faced an official complaint of bullying from several Kensington Palace staff members, and blasted “spurious allegations” related to another problematic choice — a pair of earrings worn to a state dinner in Fiji.

As reported by the Times in the UK, the Duchess of Sussex wore diamond earrings to the dinner during her and Prince Harry’s visit there in 2018. The Times said the earrings were a wedding gift from controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Times said.

The dinner, hosted by the president of Fiji, took place three weeks after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi embassy in Turkey a killing that U.S. intelligence agencies say was ordered by bin Salman.

At the time, multiple outlets, including Elle, reported that the dramatic diamond earrings were borrowed from the royal family.

According to the Times, the duchess didn’t deny that she said the earrings were borrowed, “despite being aware of their provenance.” But in a statement, her spokesperson objected to “spurious allegations regarding the use of gifts loaned to the duchess by the Crown.”

People magazine reported that the earrings were gifted on March 7, 2018, from the Saudi royal family, who is represented by bin Salman. The crown prince met with the queen at Buckingham palace during a three-day visit to launch a Saudi U.K. economic and investment partnership. At the time, bin Salman was viewed by Western leaders and the media as a potential force for progressive change in the Middle East, but that view changed with the death of Khashoggi.

Neither Meghan or Harry was present when the earrings were received by Buckingham Palace, People said. As is protocol, any wedding gift of this nature remains the property of The Crown, People added. According to The Sun, her lawyers said that her were aware who the earrings were from, while Meghan wasn’t aware of rumors that bin Salman was involved in Khashoggi’s murder.

The Times report comes five days before Meghan and Harry are set to appear on CBS in a highly-anticipated, “wide-ranging” interview with Oprah Winfrey. It appears timed to cast Meghan in a less glowing light.

The Times report said current and former palace employees approached the newspaper, concerned that the Winfrey interview would be one-sided and that the palace had not adequately addressed their concerns about the bullying.

The interview already has been recorded, and the legendary talk-show host says in promotional ads that the couple reveal “shocking things” about Meghan’s “almost unsurvivable” time in the royal family. The couple also are expected to discuss their decision to stop being working royals and re-locate to Meghan’s home state of California.

A spokesperson for the Sussexes said the bullying allegations reported by the Times make them victims of “a calculated smear campaign” that is based on “misleading and harmful misinformation.” The statement said the duchess was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.”

Attorneys for the Sussexes also refuted the bullying allegations, saying that The Times is “being used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative.”

The fact that such allegations are being aired publicly shows how bitter the conflict has grown between the Sussexes and the royal establishment since the couple left the U.K. at the end of 2019.

The employees told the Times they were bullied by the U.S.-born former TV actress after she married Prince Harry in May 2018. One former employee, who was not named in the Times story, said they had been personally “humiliated” by Meghan, while another aide discussed experiencing “more like emotional cruelty and manipulation.”

An official October 2018 complaint, made by Jason Knauf, the couple’s communications secretary at the time, also said Meghan drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third staff member, the Times said.

Royal sources additionally told the Times about a tense atmosphere in Kensington Palace where Meghan and Harry lived alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton until splitting their Sussex and Cambridge households at the beginning of 2019. The Times said staff would be “reduced to tears,” while another, anticipating a confrontation with Meghan, reportedly told a colleague: “I can’t stop shaking.”

The Times report also said staff had a “difficult” time on the couple’s royal tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga in October 2018. Meghan had just announced she was pregnant with their son, Archie, and the tour was widely covered, with reporters covering every move she made and every outfit she wore.

Fashionistas raved about the “showstopper” blue cape Safiyaa gown Meghan wore to the dinner hosted by the president of Fiji. It was her first state dinner, and Elle reported that she accessorized the gown with earrings that were “borrowed from the royal family.”

At the time, Elle said Kensington Palace wouldn’t confirm to reporters which member of the royal family she borrowed the earrings from, but “some speculate it was the queen.” Another publication, The Court Jeweler, agreed that the earrings “definitely made a statement,” but thought they might have been borrowed from her mother-in-law, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Several months later, People magazine, citing a Daily Mail report, described how Meghan had been especially eager to make a good impression at the state dinner in Fiji. She wanted to complete her look with a tiara but Prince Charles said no, explaining to her that wearing such a sparkling accessory would be viewed as too “extravagant” in some Commonwealth countries.

Tiaras are usually reserved for royal weddings or state banquets with visiting dignitaries at Buckingham Palace, People explained.

“Meghan did not understand all of this because she was new to the role and so Prince Charles told her that it would not be appropriate,” the source told the Daily Mail at the time. Charles’s advice was “kindly” dispensed.

Source: mercurynews