News – Page 87 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Alrosa implements guidance to avoid conflict diamonds

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond miner by volume, announced that it will start implementing the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.

In a press release, the company said that to improve the efficiency of this work and guarantee compliance, it has launched an internal diamond supply chain management system. The mechanism is based on the Regulations on Responsible Diamond Supply Chain Management recently approved by its executive committee.

According to Alrosa, the internal diamond tracking and traceability system applies to all the segments of the diamond supply chain. It allows the firm to provide its clients with the information not only on the country of origin but the region of origin of its rough and polished diamond production.

The system also guarantees that rough diamonds produced by Alrosa in different regions are not mixed in the process of sorting, valuation, cutting and polishing, and trading.

“As part of Alrosa obligations as a certified RJC member, we are very proud to launch our tailored diamond supply chain due diligence system,” Peter Karakchiev, head of international relations, said in the media brief.

“It marks the start of a process which we believe will positively contribute to ensuring that all Alrosa diamonds are produced in compliance with the high standards of responsible business conduct.”

Source: mining.com

Petra Diamonds founder steps down

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds is saying goodbye to Adonis Pouroulis, the company’s founder and chairman for 23 years.

The diamond producer, which dropped the role of chief operating officer in November because of management restructuring, said Pouroulis is being succeeded by Peter Hill, who was appointed a non-executive director of Petra and chairman-designate in December.

Hill began his career in the gold division of Anglo American, moving later to Rossing Uranium in Namibia, then to London as mining engineer with then BP Minerals, and later joining Consolidated Gold Fields.

Petra has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its iconic Cullinan mine in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905.

In September, it reported a 22% drop in annual profit amid falling diamond prices and the company’s investment in Cullinan aimed at reviving the aging operation. The company’s share price collapsed to a record low as it also revealed it was writing down the value of its mines.

Just when the first signs of stabilization in the sector were starting to appear, the novel coronavirus pandemic forced Petra to halt its production outlook for 2020.

The company closed its mines in South Africa last week for a mandatory 21-day lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of covid-19.

Its remote Williamson diamond mine, in Tanzania, said Petra, continues to be “closely monitored.”

Souce: mining.com

De Beers Cancels Upcoming Sight

De Beers has called off this week’s sight in Botswana, citing restrictions resulting from measures to contain the coronavirus.

Lockdowns in Botswana, South Africa and India are prohibiting sightholders from traveling and preventing the shipment of merchandise to clients’ international operations, De Beers said in a statement Monday. The company is letting sightholders defer 100% of their supply allocations to later in the year, as reported by Rapaport News on Thursday.

The miner “will continue to seek innovative ways to meet sightholders’ rough-diamond supply needs in the coming weeks,” it continued.

The sale was due to run from March 30 to April 3 in Gaborone. However, on March 16, Botswana banned entry to visitors from 18 countries, including US, China, India and Belgium — making attendance impossible for most sightholders.

Customers can usually buy De Beers’ rough remotely due to the consistency of the diamond assortments. However, demand is extremely weak as the manufacturing sector in Surat, India, has closed and the US retail market has largely shut down. In addition, the ability to transport goods around the world is limited. Sales were likely to be extremely low, rough-market sources told Rapaport News.

The unprecedented conditions prompted the World Diamond Council (WDC) and six major trade organizations to ask the CEOs of De Beers and Alrosa to consider offering complete flexibility on purchasing obligations. In a March 20 letter, bourses and trade groups in India, Belgium and Israel joined the WDC in urging the miners to treat the situation as a “force majeure” — an unforeseeable circumstance that prevents the fulfilment of a contract.

“With so many companies now down to a fraction of sales, it is imperative to keep the right balance to secure their short-term viability,” the organizations wrote.

Alrosa allowed more flexibility than normal at its March rough sale, enabling customers to defer 60% of their allocations. However, responding to the letter, it emphasized the importance of all industry participants supporting each other.

“COVID-19 is a new challenge for all of us, and it requires the industry from mine to retail to stand together and take joint innovative steps, not avoid them at the expense of others,” Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov wrote. “Walking away from mutual obligations is shortsighted.”

Source: diamonds.net

Surat Diamond Manufacturing Shuts Down

The entire polishing industry in Surat has shut until March 31 after Indian authorities introduced tight restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Activities stopped on Tuesday in line with a lockdown enforced by the Gujarat state government. The Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai also closed from Friday until the end of the month following similar measures in Maharashtra state.

“In this panic situation, all are requested to stay at home, [stay] healthy, and spend time with family,” the Surat Diamond Association and the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said in a joint letter to the Surat trade on Saturday. The organizations urged companies to shut their offices and manufacturing units in the city, the world’s largest center for polishing. Safe-deposit vaults will remain open for two hours each day, they noted.

The GJEPC said it had closed its head office in Mumbai until March 31, with all employees working from home.

Michael Hill to Close Stores in Canada

Michael Hill will temporarily close all its Canadian stores amid the coronavirus pandemic, while locations in Australia and New Zealand currently remain open.

The jeweler’s Canadian stores are set to shut for a two-week period, but the company will reevaluate and may lift or extend the shutdown as necessary based on the health situation, it said last week. During the closure, most of the jeweler’s workforce will either be given leave without pay, or may take unused vacation time.

Additionally, the company will not provide revenue guidance for the fiscal year ending June 30, as it has not fully assessed the impact of the virus on its sales.

“In the last two weeks there has been a significant drop off in foot traffic in each of our trading markets and we are seeing a corresponding impact on sales,” the jeweler said. “The company will provide further details when they are available as part of our regular [third-quarter] trading update in early April. [We] have not provided guidance on earnings for the current financial year, and are not in a position to [give] a reliable forecast.”

Any existing analyst forecasts are also not reliable, as they were prepared without taking into account the current trading environment, Michael Hill observed.

The retailer plans to reduce any non-essential spending during this time, and will implement a hiring and travel freeze, it said. It is also speaking with its landlords about temporary rent relief during the shutdowns.

“During these challenging times, the health and safety of our people and customers are foremost in our minds,” said Michael Hill CEO Daniel Bracken. “The board and management team are confident that the business will be able to continue to work constructively with all of its stakeholders to navigate the uncertainties presented by the COVID-19 public-health crisis. We are focused on taking all necessary actions to reduce our costs and cash outflows so that they better match the very subdued demand in all our markets.”

Source: diamonds.net

Tiffany, Macy’s Among Retailers Closing US Stores

A growing number of US retailers, including Tiffany & Co., are temporarily shuttering all locations across North America in an effort to stem the coronavirus spread.

“Effective immediately, we’re temporarily closing all Tiffany stores in the US and Canada, as well as many other locations globally, to protect our teams, clients and communities,” the jeweler said in an Instagram post Tuesday. “Now more than ever it is time for us to take care of the ones we love.”

Macy’s closed all its stores nationwide as of close of business Tuesday, including its Bloomingdale’s department-store chain. However, all its brands will continue to operate via online sites and mobile apps, it noted.

“The health and safety of our customers, colleagues and communities is our utmost priority,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said Tuesday. “We will work with government and health officials to assess when we will reopen.”

J.C. Penney followed suit Wednesday, shutting all stores and business offices in the country, noting operations were currently slated to resume April 2.

Nordstrom has also announced it will suspend operations at all its North American stores, yet the company has limited the closure to a two-week period, it said. During that time it will offer curbside pickup for online orders. Meanwhile, Saks department store has shut its New York and Philadelphia locations, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, Pandora will not only close its US-based stores, but will shut locations in Italy, Spain, Germany and France, among others. It has also encouraged its franchisees and multi-branded partners in affected markets to cease operations voluntarily.

Signet Jewelers has not declared official plans to close any stores, but said it would follow the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and customers,” David Bouffard, Signet’s vice president of corporate affairs, told Rapaport News Wednesday.

Signet shares were down 35% since start of trading on Wednesday, March 11, while Macy’s dropped 29% and Tiffany slipped 11%.

Source: Diamonds.net

Sarine Ushers In Era of In-Factory Grading

Sarine Technologies has launched a new platform enabling manufacturers to tap its automated grading systems and issue a report in-house to support the needs of jewelers.

The company this week introduced its eGrading innovation via a video campaign on YouTube claiming the concept would “change diamond grading forever.” It allows manufacturers to self-execute third-party grading of the 4Cs — cut, carat weight, color and clarity — along with other personalized parameters required by the jeweler, without having to send the diamond to a grading laboratory.

“We believe the market is moving in this direction and our technology is now mature enough to make that happen,” CEO David Block told Rapaport News in a briefing at Sarine’s innovation center in Hod Hasharon, Israel.

“The digital aspect opens up the possibility to customize the report, which is difficult for a lab to achieve,” Block explained. “Once you grade the diamond at the source, the manufacturer is now responsible for its own destiny.”

The initiative builds on Sarine’s automated grading systems, with the company first announcing its ability to automate the grading of color and clarity, and therefore all the 4Cs, in 2016. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning to assess the grading results of tens of thousands of diamonds to arrive confidently at its color and clarity decision.

Empowering the manufacturer to execute the report enables it to provide a more personalized service to the jeweler. Block believes eGrading will improve efficiency for manufacturers, since they don’t have to send the stone out to the lab, while still using third-party verification. This saves on the time, expense, and opportunity cost of not having the diamond available to sell. And the retailer benefits from being able to tap the right goods from its supplier in a shorter period.

“Diamond grading is still in the Blockbuster days, where I need to send my diamond to the lab and wait for them to finish grading. They decide what goes in first and I get the stone back with certain criteria that are generally not good enough for me as I go out and sell the diamond,” he added, explaining that lab certificates are too generic.

While the retailer might want to emphasize other parameters such as the stone’s fluorescence, or different types of inclusions, among others, Block asserts it is difficult and expensive for the labs to go into the required level of detail.

Market ready

Sarine claims its technology will provide those details as the system evolves, using the same AI machine-learning principles in other parameters as it applies for color and clarity grading.

In that sense, its eGrading program isn’t a finished product, and probably never will be, because Sarine’s systems are constantly evolving and improving, according to Block. “We’re presenting our vision for where the market is heading and we have developed the technology that we believe makes this possible,” he stressed.

The company expects to reach several new milestones in 2020 as it rolls the program out to the market, Block assured, without divulging what those might be.

He believes the industry is more than ready to embrace the cultural change the company is proposing, observing that the “the midstream is very tech-savvy.”

A means to an end

Block also recognized that others may be entering the same space. Representatives from De Beers and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) joined Block in a panel discussion at the Dubai Diamond Conference in September by asserting that automation of diamond processes will come “sooner than you think.” Each independently stressed that they’re ready to propose a solution.

Sarine is confident it can lead the way in the diamond industry’s “tech revolution,” given that technology is its core competency. Other companies that develop technology are also focused on other areas within the diamond pipeline. Technology, he emphasized, is going to play a big part in bringing about dramatic changes in the diamond industry.

In that spirit, the objective of Sarine’s eGrading initiative is to realign the emphasis currently placed on grading reports, Block added.

“Diamond grading is not a goal in and of itself. Rather, the objective is to help price a diamond and to help source what you’re looking for,” Block said. “We’re looking at how we can improve the process to get to that goal of how to source the diamond. How people source diamonds will change. It’s natural that the industry will shift in this direction.”

Source: Diamonds.net

Gem Diamonds recovers 100 diamonds larger than 100 carats

Commenting on the results, Clifford Elphick, CEO of Gem Diamonds, says:

“Gem Diamonds delivered solid operational results which together with the targeted gains of the Business Transformation programme and continued emphasis on cost controls, confirmed our status as one of the lowest-cost producers in the industry.”

“The operational results were characterised by the achievement of all guided operational metrics and the recovery of 11 diamonds greater than 100 carats each, which also brought the total number of diamonds of greater than 100 carats recovered at the Letšeng mine to 100.

“This, together with a 13.32 carat pink diamond that was recovered and sold for a Letšeng record of US$656 934 per carat, reaffirms the unique quality of the Letšeng production.

“The Letšeng mining lease was renewed for an effective 20-year period which creates long-term stability for Letšeng.

“This, together with the continued emphasis on cost controls, positions the Company well for an upturn in the market for Letšeng’s quality production which appears to have begun.”

Source: miningreview

Lucapa closer to uncovering Lulo kimberlite source

Lucapa Diamond Company has made some significant progress in its search for the kimberlite source of the high-value alluvial diamonds being mined at the Lulo diamond project in Angola.

Following highly-encouraging tributary sampling results in February 2020, the project Lulo partners commenced a drilling programme in the Canguige catchment area targeting five kimberlite pipes considered prospective to host diamonds, along with two additional priority anomalies.

Once the existing priority kimberlites are drilled, kimberlite bulk samples from these five pipes will be excavated for processing to test for diamonds.

Gem Diamonds Retrieves Another Five Big Stones

Gem Diamonds has recovered five large, high-quality stones at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, continuing a strong first quarter for the company’s production.

The company unearthed four white diamonds weighing 88, 56, 53 and 33 carats between February 28 and March 3. It also found a “top-quality” 13-carat pink diamond.

Those are in addition to the recovery of a 114-carat stone the miner reported last week. It found a 183-carat, white, type IIa diamond last month.

The miner is ahead of where it was this time last year in terms of its large-stone recoveries. In 2019, Gem Diamonds didn’t find any stones over 100 carats until late March. During that year, the company unearthed a 13.33-carat pink diamond similar to the one it found last week. That stone sold to Graff for $8.8 million, fetching a record average price of $656,933 per carat for Gem Diamonds.

While the recovery of large stones bodes well for the company, it has had to cancel a rough tender that was set to take place in Israel from March 8 to 12 due to the coronavirus, the Israel Diamond Exchange reported. Its Belgium auction will proceed as planned.

Source: Diamonds.net