Botswana Diamonds digs up first stones at South African mine

botswanadiamonds-southafrica

Botswana Diamonds said Tuesday that it recovered the first diamonds from plant commissioning activities on its Marsfontein mine in Limpopo, South Africa.

The announcement comes only days after it received a mining permit for diamond-bearing gravels and residual unprocessed stockpiles around the operation.

Chairman John Teeling said the plant was very close to reaching full operations following the installation of an in-field screen, two rotary pans, grease and x-ray recovery system.

“I am delighted with the rapid progress the team has made on-site and it is noteworthy that the first diamonds were recovered within two weeks of the mining permit being granted,” Teeling said.

The Marsfontein mine was operated for two years in the late 1990s, with a payback of its entire development costs in less than four days. The mine’s grade was 172 carats per hundred tonnes, at a bottom cut-off of more than 1.2 mm, containing many fancy coloured diamonds.

The surrounding deposits in question were overlooked when the mine was closed.

Diamond miners are struggling across the board, especially those producing cheaper and smaller stones where there is an over-supply in the market.

Buyers, those that polish and cut diamonds for retailers, have been hit this year by lower prices and tighter credit, prompting them to delay purchases.

De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer by value, has responded by axing production — with a target of 31 million carats this year compared with 35.3 million in 2018.

It has also announced it would spend more on marketing. At the latest sale, the company increased the amount of stones buyers were allowed to reject in each lot purchased from 10% to 20%, according to people familiar with the auction.

Source: mining.com

De Beers boosted by jump in diamond sales

De Beers diamonds

De Beers has surprised analysts by selling more diamonds than expected at its latest sale.

The world’s largest diamond producer, which is owned by Anglo American, sold $390m of rough stone this month, compared with $297m at its previous sale in October and above market expectations of around $300m.

“The company has attributed this rebound in sales to signs of increasing polished price stability leading to improving sentiment from rough diamond buyers,” said analysts at Citi.

However, the latest “sight” marks the first time De Beers has sold less than $400m of diamonds in November since 2016, illustrating the tough conditions in the diamond industry.

Diamond buyers, who polish and cut gems for retailers, have been struggling to make money this year as the price of finished stones has slumped. That has forced De Beers to offer more flexible terms to buyers, something that continued in November.

At the same time, the industry is facing competition from lab-grown diamonds, which are chemically identical to traditional stones.

“Global consumer demand for diamond jewellery at the retail level continues to be broadly stable but with midstream trading conditions still in the process of rebalancing, we offered sightholders further flexibility during the sight to provide support,” said De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver in a statement

Citi expects rough diamond sales to fall 23 per cent to $4.3bn this year. De Beers is expected to generate around 10 per cent of Anglo’s earnings in 2019.

Source: FT.com

Russia wants end to embargo on C.Africa diamonds

conflict minerals

Russia backs lifting an embargo on diamond exports from the Central African Republic, the deputy finance minister said Tuesday as Moscow was preparing to chair a global scheme regulating the gem trade.

Russia has made moves to strengthen its influence in the poor but strategic CAR in recent months, sending military instructors to the country and receiving mining concessions as part of a plan to boost its presence in Africa.

Next year Moscow will be chair of the Kimberley Process, a global scheme established in 2003 to eliminate the so-called “blood diamonds” produced in rebel-controlled areas.

It currently upholds an embargo for rough diamond exports from some regions of the CAR.

But Russian deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseyev said the system was not working and told RIA Novosti news agency that exports from all regions of the CAR “should be made legal”.

“The current bans are unfair to poor people who can only earn money by (diamond mining),” he said, adding that Russia believes diamonds from banned “red zones” still find their way onto the market, undermining the embargo.

The CAR has been wracked by violence between various armed groups and the government for years.

The country was banned from exporting diamonds in 2013 and suspended from the Kimberley Process, but in 2016 government-controlled zones in the west were judged to be compliant and exports were approved.

Russian company Lobaye Invest, which reportedly has ties to an ally of President Vladimir Putin, recently received a licence to mine for diamonds at several sites in the CAR.

Moiseyev said the government and a special working group should work out a mechanism to make exports from all parts of the country legal.

According to Kimberley, CAR produced 13,571 carats in 2018, down from about 365,000 carats before the civil war began in 2012, but Moiseyev said it was likely that diamonds from banned zones still ended up on the market, boosting the number.

“We suspect that the same amount (as before)… is being produced now and practically all ends up on the world market as contraband,” he said. “The money earned is used by criminals.”

Source: RFI

7-Carat Blue Diamond Ring By Moussaieff Could Fetch $14 Million

7.03 Carat Fancy Deap Blue Diamond

A 7.03-carat fancy deep blue diamond mounted on a platinum ring by London high jewelry house, Moussaieff, is the top lot at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale. The blue rectangular-cut gem with VVS2 clarity has an estimate of $10 million – $14 million.

46.93 D colour
46.93 D colour

It is among a number of colored and colorless diamonds available at the November 12 sale. Other top lots in this category include a 46.93-carat D color, internally flawless diamond with a half-moon modified brilliant-cut (estimate $3.8 million – $4.5 million); and a 5.23-carat fancy intense blue cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut diamond (estimate: $3.5 million – $4.5 million).

Alrosa Profit Drops in Third Quarter

Alrosa Rough Diamonds

Weak rough-diamond demand led to a decline in profit at Alrosa in the third quarter, the Russian miner reported.

Profit slid 44% to RUB 13.5 billion ($211.6 million) for the three months ending September 30, as revenue faltered and the company’s margin fell, it said last week.

Sales decreased 37% to $611 million, as proceeds from both rough and polished diamonds declined. Rough sales slipped 37% to $601 million, while the average price for gem-quality diamonds slid 32% to $135 per carat, reflecting sales of a higher proportion of small-sized diamonds. Sales volume dropped 5% to 6.4 million carats.

“The diamond-jewelry demand was affected by increased macroeconomic uncertainty that put a damper on consumer confidence,” the company noted. “Amid the declining demand since the beginning of 2019, diamond-jewelry manufacturers and cutters have been actively reducing their stocks of end products and rough diamonds.”

Rough output grew 14% year on year to 12.1 million carats for the quarter, stemming from the launch of production at the Verkhne-Munskoye deposit, as well as higher production from the Botuobinskaya pipe.

In the first nine months of the year, the miner produced 29.7 million carats, up 12% year on year. Rough sales for the January-to-September period fell 34% to $2.39 billion.

Alrosa’s sales grew 9% year on year to 264.4 million in October, as prices and demand continued to stabilize, the miner noted. Rough-diamond sales increased 9% to $253.9 million for the month, while polished jumped 17% to $10.4 million.

However, despite the growth in October, weakness in the market affected the company’s ten-month total. In the first ten months of the year, sales fell 31% to $2.7 billion. Rough-diamond sales dropped 32% to $2.6 billion, with polished declining 43% to $47.2 million.

Source: Diamonds.net

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

On 11 November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after four years of continuous warfare.

With their armies retreating and close to collapse, German leaders signed an Armistice, bringing to an end the First World War.

From the summer of 1918, the five divisions of the Australian Corps had been at the forefront of the allied advance to victory.

Beginning with their stunning success at the battle of Hamel in July, they helped to turn the tide of the war at Amiens in August, followed by the capture of Mont St Quentin and Pèronne, and the breaching of German defences at the Hindenburg Line in September.

By early October the exhausted Australians were withdrawn from battle. They had achieved a fighting reputation out of proportion to their numbers, but victory had come at a heavy cost. They suffered almost 48,000 casualties during 1918, including more than 12,000 dead.

In the four years of the war more than 330,000 Australians had served overseas, and more than 60,000 of them had died.

The social effects of these losses cast a long shadow over the postwar decades.

Each year on this day Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts. Lest We Forget

It’s been a terrible week for diamond miners

Diamond miners

While the world’s biggest diamond miner surprised the market by cutting prices this week, a slew of filings from its smaller rivals show the move was inevitable.

While De Beers is a price maker in the supply of rough diamonds, dictating what its customers pay, most other miners are price takers. Gem Diamonds and Lucara Diamond — both known for digging up the most-expensive stones — and Mountain Province Diamonds all reported lower prices this week.

Much of the industry’s current problems have focused on tumbling prices for cheaper, smaller goods, the sort of diamonds that end up in a Walmart ring, but the recent results show even the crown jewels are also feeling the pinch.

Diamond buyers, the industry’s invisible link between African mines and jewelry stores in New York, London and Hong Kong, are being squeezed like rarely before. With too much supply and banks tightening their financing, many traders have been unable to make a profit. That’s now blowing back on the miners.

The De Beers price cut was catching up with the “reality of market conditions,” said Edward Sterck, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in London. “We think we must be approaching the nadir of the diamond market, which may just mean that a recovery is in the cards,” he added.

Gem Diamonds, which mines the world’s most expensive stones, sold its diamonds for $1,417 a carat in the third quarter. While still an eye-watering figure in an industry that averages less than $200 a carat, it’s down from about $2,100 in 2018.

Lucara reported an average selling price of $390 a carat in the third quarter. That’s a 13% drop from last year and a steep fall from 2015, when gems sold for $593 a carat.

At the bottom end of the market, things have been difficult for a long time. Mountain Province has been struggling with low prices since the beginning. In a 2014 feasibility study, it expected prices of $120 a carat, but sold stones for $53 per carat in the third quarter. The company runs the Gahcho Kue diamond mine in Canada in a joint venture with De Beers.

Source: moneyweb

Blue and Pink Diamonds Show Price Stability in Q3 2019

Fancy-colour-Diamonds

Prices of fancy color diamonds remained stable in the third quarter of 2019, according to the Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) published by the Fancy Color Research Foundation.

The prices of pinks remained stable this quarter. The slight decrease of 0.1 percent overall was due to a 3 percent decrease in the 5 carat fancy pink category. However, all fancy vivid pinks rose by 0.4 percent, with 1 and 3 carat fancy vivid pinks increasing by 1.6 percent and 1.7 percent.

Blue diamond prices increased just 0.1 percent. The sharpest increase came the 1.5 carat fancy vivid blue category (2.1 percent). Over the past 12 months, the price of this category has appreciated by 10.6 percent. The sharpest drop during this quarter (-2.2 percent) was in the 1.5 carat fancy intense blue category.

The prices of yellow diamonds decreased 1.5 percent during Q3. The largest price decrease of 3.5 percent was in the 3 carat fancy vivid yellow category. Only 2 carat fancy intense yellow diamonds did not experience a fall in prices.

Fancy Colour Diamonds
Fancy Colour Diamonds

Continuing a trend seen during the past year, the fancy vivid category outperformed (0.1 percent) the fancy intense (-0.5 percent) and fancy (-1.0 percent) categories.

Source: IDEX

HRD Antwerp Receives Two Takeover Bids

HRD Antwerp

The International Gemological Institute (IGI) and industry veteran Peter Meeus have put in rival bids to acquire HRD Antwerp.

Meeus, HRD’s former managing director, last week submitted a proposal to buy at least 51% of the lab in partnership with two unnamed individuals, he told Rapaport News Wednesday. IGI also placed a bid for the lab in the past two or three months, sources said.

“Although HRD has phenomenally lost its market share, the brand awareness is still there, especially in the Middle East, and also in India and Asia,” said Meeus, who headed HRD from 1999 to 2005. “With the whole issue of synthetics, it is my strong belief that once the consumer starts to know about it, all natural diamonds will be sold with a certificate, so this business will grow. The ambition is to bring it back to where we were, and we think we have a formula for that, which will multiply or amplify the number of HRD certificates globally, with a focus on the East.”

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International acquired an 80% stake in IGI last year. IGI CEO Roland Lorie declined to comment, but confirmed that the company had signed a nondisclosure agreement.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre, which owns HRD, elected not to comment.

Source: Diamonds.net

Family sues Christie’s over $39m diamond sale

34.65-carat-cushion-cut-fancy-intense-pink-princie-diamond

he son of a high-flying Italian senator is taking Christie’s to court in New York City this week (WEDS NOV 6) over the sale of one of the world’s most expensive diamonds, which he claims was stolen from his family.

Amedeo Angiolillo, who now lives in New York, argues that the auction house proceeded with the sale of the $40 million gem (£31m) despite his raising concerns about its provenance. The Princie Diamond, as it is known, as bought by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Christie’s, however, insists that the family members have no proof the diamond belongs to them and, furthermore, their client – who bought it from another family member – had every right to sell the stone.

The story began 300 years ago, when the 34-carat pink diamond was first recorded, in India. It came from the famed Golconda mines near Hyderabad, 400 miles east of Mumbai. The diamond was from a fine “family” – other celebrated Golconda stones include the Agra Diamond, the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian, the Koh-i-Noor, which forms part of the Crown Jewels.

The diamond was first known as being part of the collection of the Nizam, or king, of Hyderabad.

It was passed down through the generations until the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, decided to sell it in the late 1940s through Sotheby’s. It was bought by a Paris jeweller, and then sold on.

In 1960 a flamboyant Italian senator, Renato Angiolillo, purchased the diamond at Van Cleef & Arpels – the same year he married his second wife, Maria Girani Angiolillo,

It had been named “Princie” in honour of the 14-year-old Prince of Baroda, a former state of India, who came to a party that year at the Van Cleef & Arpels store in Paris, along with his mother.

Candida Morvillo an Italian investigative journalist who has been following the story of the diamond for years, said that Angiolillo’s son Amedeo told her that his father bought the diamond in Paris.

“My father bought the diamond in the ‘60s,” he reportedly said.

“He had lost a lot of money at the casino in Monte Carlo, about 700 or 800 million lire.

“My father wanted to prove that they are still rich and solid, so he bought that diamond.”

Angiolillo, founder of Italy’s Il Tempo newspaper, died in 1973, aged 72.

His glamorous widow, known as “the queen of the Rome salons” for her lively soirees of political debate, died in 2009.

When Amedeo Angiolillo went through his stepmother’s extensive art and jewellery collection, he was shocked to find the diamond missing.

Unbeknown to him, his stepbrother – Girani’s son from a previous relationship – Marco Milella had taken the stone.

The question is whether the diamond was rightfully Mr Angiolillo’s or Mr Milella’s.

Under Italian law at the time, as court documents explain, all of the late senator’s possessions should have gone to his children, not his spouse, unless they were explicitly left to her.

His will said his wife should keep their home near the Spanish Steps in Rome and its lavish furnishings. But nothing else was mentioned.

So the lawsuit argues that the rest of the estate, including the diamond, belongs to his descendants – Mr Angiolillo and four grandchildren are the plaintiffs in this case.

But the auction house and its co-defendants said that the diamond, set in a ring, was a gift to Mr Milella’s mother and so was owned by her when her husband died. And even if the transfer of ownership between them was not official, the defendants argue, the way she kept control of the ring in the decades that followed his death made it legally hers.

By 2013, the diamond was long gone. Mr Milella had sold it years earlier for nearly $20 million to a prominent gems dealer in Switzerland named David Gol.

Mr Gol, who has said he believes Mr Milella had clear title to the diamond, then worked with Christie’s to sell it as part of a jewellery auction in 2013.

“Prior to the 2013 auction of the diamond, the two main representatives of the family expressly withdrew any objection to the sale,” Christie’s said.

“Then two years after the successful sale they sued to claim inheritance rights to the proceeds without providing any significant new information to support a title claim.”

The auction house described the matter dismissively, as an “inheritance dispute among family members.”

Source: telegraph