News – Page 103 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Petra Diamonds shares jump on 425-carat discovery at Cullinan

Shares in Petra Diamonds jumped more than 8% on Friday after the miner announced it had dug up a 425.1 carat, D colour, Type II gem quality diamond at its iconic Cullinan mine in South Africa.

The discovery comes less than a month after Petra found a 100.83 carat gem-quality white diamond at the same mine, source of the world’s biggest ever diamond, which was unearthed in 1905.

“Earlier in March, Petra had recovered a 100.83 carat, white D-colour type II gem-quality stone”

The company, which appointed last month former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive, said both recoveries demonstrated the frequency of such large stones at Cullinan.

Petra, which has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand the operation, plans to sell the 425.1 carat diamond during the June quarter.

Diamond miners are struggling across the board, especially those producing cheaper and smaller stones where there is too much supply. In December, some of Rio Tinto’s customers refused to buy cheaper diamonds, while De Beers has been forced to cut prices and offer concessions to buyers.

Eurostar Diamond Traders Enters Bankruptcy

Eurostar Diamond Traders, one of the biggest names in the Antwerp industry, has entered bankruptcy following a legal battle with its banks.

The Antwerp Corporate Court ruled Thursday in favor of that outcome. Eurostar plans to appeal the decision, according to the company’s chairman and founder, Kaushik Mehta.

“For Kaushik Mehta and Eurostar, this is a very disappointing day, which he still is appealing and fighting,” the diamond-manufacturing firm said in a statement to Rapaport News. Eurostar blamed its main lenders, ABN Amro and Standard Chartered, for being too aggressive in demanding repayment of debts. Both banks declined to comment.

The company owes an estimated $500 million, according to court-appointed administrator Alain Van den Cloot.

Source: Diamonds.net

Basel to Drop Prices by up to 30%

Baselworld will reduce booth prices by 10% to 30% at next year’s show and move diamond dealers to a more attractive location, organizers have confirmed.

Management will reopen Hall 2, which was empty at the 2019 show, and place gem and pearl exhibitors in that area together with a new innovation zone dedicated to smart watches and wearable devices. The plan as it stands would see the innovation center on the ground floor, with gems and pearls one level up.

“This is still at the stage of an idea. It’s possible the gems and pearls sector may be located on the ground floor, but we still have to see what is most appropriate,” Michel Loris-Melikoff, managing director of Baselworld, said in a presentation on Tuesday, the final day of the show in the Swiss city. “What is certain is that they will be in Hall 2.”

Diamond companies’ current location in Hall 3 has been unpopular with many exhibitors, who felt they were too far from the high-end watch and jewelry brands in Hall 1. The number of exhibitors in Hall 3 dropped 10% to 120 at this year’s show, despite a price reduction of 10% to 15%. That compares with a 20% decline in the total number of exhibiting brands at Baselworld to 520, while the visitor count dropped 22% to 81,200.

Loris-Melikoff vowed to slash per-square-meter prices across the show by up to 30% next year depending on the position, as well as simplifying the pricing structure. He noted, however, that booth rental only represented about 15% of the cost of attending the show for average exhibitors.

The 2020 edition will take place later than usual, from April 30 to May 5, so visitors can also attend the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, which ends April 29, organizers of both shows announced in December. That synchronized schedule will continue until at least 2024.

From next year, Baselworld plans to rebrand itself as an “experience platform” and a community for the jewelry and watchmaking industry, rather than a classic trade fair, it said. To that end, the 2020 show will feature a retailer summit, talks by CEOs, and a virtual-reality zone.

“Our strategy met with strong approval from the exhibitors during the presentations,” Loris-Melikoff noted. “We will tackle change with vigor and passion.”

Source:Diamonds.net

Diamond Services introduces new lab-grown diamond identification system

Diamond Services, the Hong Kong headquartered developer of technological systems and services for detecting treated diamonds, laboratory grown diamonds (LGDs) and simulants is introducing a new device which widens the range of detectable merchandise to include all rough and polished stones in the lower yellowish to light brown colour ranges.

Like other detection apparatus developed by Diamond Services, the new system, called DND (Diamond Natural Device), scans diamonds at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, which the company has shown provides a higher degree of accuracy than detection devices which examine diamonds at room temperatures.

“To provide as accurate results as possible, we insist that all diamonds being tested to detect the possible presence of synthetically produced goods be examined at temperatures in a liquid nitrogen atmosphere,” explained Joseph Kuzi, Diamond Services’ founder and president. “Since this can only be done reliably and safely in a proper laboratory setting, we have selected not to sell the equipment we develop, but rather to use it exclusively as part of the service we provide the trade.

The new DND system improves that offering, widening the range of goods that can be screened to include all goods at the lower end of the standard colour range.”

Source: IDEX

Tiffany Weathers Slow 4Q for Record 2018

Tiffany & Co. reported record annual sales in 2018, despite the challenging economic environment that caused a slowdown in the fourth quarter.

“In 2018…net sales surpassed levels not seen since 2014,” said Tiffany CEO Alessandro Bogliolo. “Softer trends in the second half of the year reflected, in part, what we believe were external challenges and uncertainties.”

Group revenue grew 7% to $4.4 billion, the company said Friday. Sales increased 13% to $1.2 billion in the Asia-Pacific region, while revenue in the Americas climbed 5% to $2 billion. Sales in Japan rose 8% to $643 million, and proceeds in Europe went up 3% to $504 million.

The jewelry retailer’s new marketing strategy, including its “Believe in Love, Believe in Dreams” and holiday campaigns, buoyed sales, Bogliolo noted in a conference call with analysts last week, transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

Worldwide comparable-store sales — at branches open for at least a year — rose 4% at constant currency rates.

Profit for the year jumped 58% to $586 million, its highest in a decade, according to Rapaport records. Earnings were boosted by a lower income-tax rate, which included a $16 million benefit related to the enactment of the 2017 US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Tiffany explained.

During the fourth quarter ending January 31, 2019, global sales declined 1% to $1.3 billion, due to softer demand from local customers and foreign tourists. The lower spending was attributable to market volatility and external uncertainties, the company observed.

Profit for the three-month period more than tripled to $205 million versus $62 million a year ago, also as a result of the lower tax payment.

The company expects net sales for 2019 to increase by a low-single-digit percentage over 2018, as the lower foreign-tourist spending it encountered in the fourth quarter continues into the new fiscal year, it said. Higher expenses relating to its six-point program to stimulate growth will also negatively impact earnings, Tiffany noted.

Among its 2019 initiatives, the jeweler is strengthening its message on diamonds via a campaign on social media, accelerating its product renewals and launches, as well as delivering a more exciting omni-channel experience, Bogliolo explained in the analyst call.

Tiffany will begin selling engagement rings on its US website, he added. Phone orders were previously the only outlet for purchasing outside its store locations. Additionally, the company will launch an e-commerce site in China later this year.

Tiffany’s stock rose 3.1% on Friday following the results.

Source: Diamonds.net

Graff breaks Letšeng record with pink diamond

London jeweller Graff has acquired what founder Laurence Graff, a man known by his moniker The King of Diamonds, has described as “the most vivid pink rough diamond I have ever seen”.

The incredibly rare 13.33ct pink diamond was unearthed at the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, Africa, by miner Gem Diamonds in February. The Letšeng mine is famed for its high yield of very valuable and large rough diamonds.

While the diamonds to emerge from Letšeng consistently achieve the highest price per carat of any rough diamonds in the world, Graff has set a new record with the acquisition of the 13.33ct pink diamond. The stone, which has since been named the Graff Lesotho Pink, was purchased by Graff for US$8.75 million, making it the most expensive diamond on a dollar per carat basis to ever have emerged from the mine.

“This is the most vivid pink rough diamond I have ever seen, and it is an exceptionally rare treasure,” said Mr Graff. “We are renowned for cutting and polishing exceptional diamonds, and I am sure the polished diamond that comes from this rough will be an auspicious addition to our roll call of famous gems. It is an enormous privilege to own this natural miracle. We may never see anything like it again.”

The Graff Lesotho Pink diamond is now in the hands of Graff’s master diamond cutters, who will assess the rough stone’s potential and decide what are the optimum cut to make out of the rough will be.

Source:jewellerycut

Gem Diamonds Unearths 161ct. Rough

Gem Diamonds has recovered a 161 carat rough stone, the first over 100 carats it has reported this year.

It found the high quality, white, type IIa diamond on March 21 at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the company said Friday.

Last year, Gem Diamonds found 15 stones weighing more than 100 carats, a record for the company. That haul included the 910 carat Lesotho Legend, which sold for $40 million.

In February, the miner also found a 13.33 carat pink diamond, which it sold to Graff for $8.8 million, or $656,933 per carat.

Image: The 161 carat diamond Gem Diamonds

Source: Diamonds.net

Lucapa Diamond announced a 90% upsurge in Diamond Resource Carats at Lulo

The international diamond group, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited has high valued mines in Angola and Lesotho, with exploration projects in Australia, Botswana, and Angola.

The company on 21 March 2019, provided an update on Alluvial Diamond Resource for the Lulo diamond mine in Angola Lulo Diamond Resource. LOM is under the partnership with Rosas & Petalas and Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P.

Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants Limited, an External consultant of Cape Town, South Africa, independently estimated and reconciled The Lulo Diamond Resource, on a depletion and addition basis as on December 31, 2018.

The resource estimation comprised of 19 months of mining depletion at Lulo from May 31, 2017, to December 31, 2018. During, 19 months, more than 30,000 carats of diamonds were recovered and sold for approximately US$ 62 Mn.

This extensive ongoing resource definition, drilling and sampling program included an additional 4,200 auger holes 36,000 meters drilled.

The current sale of Diamond was estimated at prices above the previous resource estimation on May 31, 2017.

Source:kalkinemedia

Tiffany Provides Glimpse into Future Store Design

The brand’s innovative ‘style studio’ in London may be a preview of what to expect on Fifth Avenue.

With Tiffany & Co. refurbishing its flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue, there is a buzz of speculation on how the retailer plans to make the shop more interactive and appealing to millennials, as it has vowed to do. What people may not know, however, is that Tiffany has already made a similar move in London, opening a new, modern store that strikes a different tone than the one many consumers associate with the brand.

It may also provide a glimpse of how the famous Manhattan branch will ultimately shape up, since we’ll have to wait until the end of 2021 to see that one in its completed form.

A tale of two UK stores

The jeweler’s main London store, on upmarket Old Bond Street in the city’s retail-focused West End, couldn’t be more classic Tiffany. Its hanging sign, flagpole and clock help it blend in with the Cartier and Gucci shops around it, though the frontage is perhaps slightly more daring and appealing than some of its luxury neighbors’ stuffy window displays.

A mile to the east, Tiffany’s new “style studio” in the more informal Covent Garden neighborhood is a different type of space entirely. Situated in a trendy spot for tourists, it’s a light, enticing attraction for the millennial visitor, with large undecorated windows and a fresh interior that does away with the intimidating atmosphere luxury retailers can sometimes create.

Beyond jewelry

The room’s imaginative decor includes striking wall designs and simple tables that make browsing easy and fun. There are few or no engagement rings on display; the store mainly stocks fashion jewelry and other items, including products from Tiffany’s home-and-accessories line. There’s also a space in the back for events. On the day this reporter visited, that area had free ice cream on offer for a limited time, and customers seemed interested in what they were seeing.

Indeed, Tiffany calls the new location a “style studio” because it’s more than a jewelry store. A Tiffany-blue vending machine dispenses fragrances. Customers can draw images on a flat screen and then watch while workers engrave those designs onto jewelry or emboss them in leather. There’s also a Starbucks-like feel: Visitors can perch on stools at tables, charging their phones and laptops while they wait for their friends to turn up. An assistant said the store would serve coffee if a customer were sitting around long enough.

It’s unlikely to be an absolute blueprint for Tiffany’s Manhattan store of the future: That branch gets a fair chunk of its revenue from engagement rings and other high-end jewelry, which may require a different atmosphere. Yet Tiffany has said innovation will be central to the transformation of its flagship as it seeks to create a “dramatic new experience for customers.” It would be surprising if none of the Covent Garden space’s features ended up on Fifth Avenue.

Source:diamonds.net

Petra Diamonds keeps founder Pouroulis as chairman

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds is keeping founder Adonis Pouroulis as chairman, despite some shareholders voting against his renewal at the 2018 annual general meeting.

The company, which last month appointed former gold miner Richard Duffy as chief executive effective in April, said the appointment of a new chair was “not appropriate” at this time.

Petra said the board and nomination committee had considered the 22.12% vote against Pouroulis’ re-election as chairman in the context of Petra’s ongoing three-year succession plan.

Despite concerns raised by some shareholders, the diamond miner said the current chairman continued to “demonstrate the independence of thought and challenge required for his role, notwithstanding the number of years he has served as a director.”

Pouroulis founded Petra in 1997 and has been its chairman ever since.

The company 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.

Source:mining.com