News – Page 110 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

TFG takes American Swiss jewellery brand to Australia

South African retailer TFG (The Foschini Group) has expanded its American Swiss jewellery brand into Australia in the hope of shaking up the jewellery market there, chief executive Anthony Thunström said on Thursday.

The move aims to show whether TFG’s local brands can thrive in more developed markets than Sub-Saharan Africa where weak economies are seen to be limiting their potential.

“We launched an American Swiss Australia. We just opened our first four stores, we’re planning on opening another two so we’ll have six in total by the end of the year,” Thunström told Reuters after the clothing and homeware retailer reported half-year results.

“The stores are quite a big step forward in relation to other jewellery stores in Australia, it’s a 3.5 billion Australian dollar per annum market and we believe we can shake that up and disrupt it a bit.”

Thunström said the six stores were split between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and will give the group “enough of the critical mass to gauge the reception and over the next six months we’ll see how they trade.”

TFG, which owns 28 brands in 32 countries, started in Australia in 2017 when it bought menswear chain Retail Apparel Group (RAG), boosting TFG Australia’s sales, up 170.7% in Australian dollars for the six-months ended September.

Group turnover grew by 28.6% to R15.9 billion ($1.14 billion), while headline earnings per share (EPS) rose to 506 cents, up from 467.1 cents a year earlier.

Shares closed up 2.67% at R170.95.

TFG has been making more of its brands available online in a market where trading has shifted rapidly from brick and mortar stores to online retail.

With the recent launch of online selling for two additional TFG Africa brands, Donna and The FIX, online turnover through 22 of the group’s 28 brands now contributes 7.9% of group turnover, the company said.

On Wednesday TFG launched e-commerce platform myTFGworld.com, pitting it against rivals such as Naspers’ Takealot.com online retailer and fashion retailer Superbalist.

Thunström said the group will leverage its 13.4 million customers and omni-channel formula to stay ahead of competitors.

“We’ve had a big push with online from the last couple of years but we’ve upped the ante over the last 12 months. We’re spending an increasingly amount of capex and operating expenditure on our online offering,” Thunström said.

Online shopping’s share of total retail sales in South Africa is still hovering around 1%, but barriers to entry, such as a lack of internet access, are being overcome while the convenience of online shopping is drawing more and more customers.

Everything Changes, Some Things Stay the Same

The diamond and jewelry trade tends to be reactive rather than proactive.

That was clear during the recent conference season, with the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and the World Diamond Council (WDC) all holding their annual meetings in October.

Much of the discussion, according to reports from the meetings, was centered on how the trade should relate to synthetic diamonds. It’s a difficult question following the recent decision by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to expand the definition of “diamond” to include those grown in a laboratory.

How does that apply to invoicing, advertising or grading reports? Having reached equal footing with mined diamonds in the eyes of the FTC, should lab-grown stones be allowed on the bourse trading floors? Of course not. And the trade restated its position that the use of the word “diamond,” without any qualifiers before it, refers to a natural stone by default.

But language isn’t really the issue. Behind the debate lies a deep concern about the growing acceptance of synthetics — both in retail and within the trade. De Beers’ entry into the market has played a significant role in that development, giving others a green light to follow suit.

Forget De Beers’ claim that it is helping differentiate natural from synthetic diamonds through pricing. The company is encouraging demand for a product that will ultimately eat into the natural-diamond market. We’re seeing that already, with more retailers, such as Macy’s and JCPenney, convinced that consumers will “grow in love” with synthetic-diamond jewelry.

The trade’s leadership claims it was blindsided by De Beers and the FTC. But its efforts at this point to engage with the FTC to revoke the decision will ultimately prove to be a case of too little, too late.

Rather, we must recognize that the industry trade groups that met in Mumbai, along with CIBJO, which met in Colombia, failed their constituents. So did the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), of which De Beers holds the current chairmanship.

Why was the natural-diamond-industry lobby ineffective a year ago — if active at all — while synthetics producers were convincing the FTC to include them in its definition? Where is the outrage from DPA members over their chairman actively working against the group’s mandate to promote natural diamonds as real and rare?

The industry’s reactive approach to the synthetics issue signals a need to update its strategy. Perhaps an initiative to combine the roles of the WFDB and IDMA into one organization would bring them new energy and purpose.

For now, the inability to change leadership at these organizations suggests the rest of the trade sees them as ineffective. As the WFDB and IDMA begin another term with the same leadership and a new committee working to spread the WFDB’s influence, we urge trade groups to be more proactive in dealing with the many challenges facing the natural-diamond market.

Source: diamonds.net

LUCAPA FINDS NEW ALLUVIAL SOURCE FOR LARGE DIAMONDS

Lucapa Diamond Company has found a new alluvial source of “large and premium value diamonds” at its Lulo diamond mine in Angola, according to press release.

Lucapa said that it has been exploring the extensive flood plains along the 50km stretch of Cacuilo River valley within the Lulo diamond concession, and found that they are host “to exceptional alluvial diamonds”. The tested area yielded 17 Specials larger than 10 carats, including an exceptional 55 carat Type IIa D colour white. A total of 1,502 carats were recovered so far from 11,155 bulk cubic metres processed.

Lucapa said that it will continue testing “other flood plain areas at Lulo in parallel with alluvial mining activities in established areas”.

Police nab massive diamond smuggling ring linked to Leviev operation

Precious gems believed to have brought into Israel hidden in the luggage of a worker from one of Russian-Israeli billionaire’s factories.

Police said Monday they had arrested six suspects on suspicion of involvement in a smuggling operation that brought hundreds of millions of shekels’ worth of diamonds into Israel hidden in suitcases.

Police said in a statement that the suspects “conspired, planned, and operated for a number of years smuggling diamonds into the State of Israel worth hundreds of millions of shekels in violation of the law and without reporting to the competent authorities.”

They were questioned under caution on suspicion of diamond smuggling, money laundering, tax offenses and conspiracy to commit a crime, filing false business reports and other offenses.

The investigation, being handled by the Lahav 433 national crime unit, found that an Israeli citizen who had been living aboard entered Israel six years ago with diamonds concealed in his luggage, police said.

Police believe the suspect, a worker at a Russian factory owned by Russian-Israeli diamond billionaire and philanthropist Lev Leviev, then sold the diamonds without reporting the transactions to tax authorities. Investigators who raided his home and found hundreds of diamond-related shipping certificates.

More arrests in Israel and abroad are expected, according to authorities.

Many details of the case were gagged by a court order Monday morning.

During raids on the suspects’ homes police seized luxury cars from a city only identified as near the Tel Aviv area.

All of the suspects were to be brought for a hearing later Monday at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court.

The case was cracked with the aid of one of the suspects who turned state witness after he was stopped six months ago at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport carrying a diamond worth a million shekels ($270,000), the Globes website reported.

In a statement, Leviev’s company LLD Diamonds said it had no information about the arrests, according to the report.

PRICES OF PINK AND BLUE DIAMONDS RISE IN Q3 2018

The recently published Fancy Color Diamond Index shows that in the third quarter of 2018, prices of fancy color blue and pink diamonds rose by 0.7% and 0.4% respectively in all sizes and saturation levels when compared to Q2 2018. When compared to Q3 2017, the index rose 0.4%; blue prices were up 5.9% and yellow and pink prices down by 1.6% and 0.5%, respectively.

According to the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), “overall fancy color diamond prices showed no significant change and increased by only 0.1%”. The only decrease was in yellow fancy color diamonds (-1%). The biggest increase was for Fancy vivid blue diamonds, which rose 8.5% in the past 12 months and 1.1% in Q3 2018. In the 1-carat category, prices of pink diamonds remained stable, blue diamonds rose 4.7%, yellow diamonds fell by 2.2%, and intense yellow 1 carat diamond prices rose 1.1%.

FCRF Advisory Board member Eden Rachminov said: “In my opinion, the price of fancy yellow is influenced by the general mood of many diamond traders that carry a mixed inventory of colorless and yellows. Due to the slowdown in the colorless business and to compensate in their general turnover, these traders slightly lower the prices of yellows”.

Source: israelidiamond.co.il

The Diamond Trade’s Provenance Challenge

Source verification programs are poised to become a standard feature of diamond sales, with early adopters set to gain market share.

The question of whether a diamond could be traced throughout the distribution chain initially met with some skepticism. Back in 2011, as rough production from Zimbabwe’s controversial Marange fields was being cleared for export by the Kimberley Process, the goods were still banned in the United States (as they remain today). It was therefore necessary to separate the Marange goods during the production process if manufacturers were to continue supplying both the US market, and jewelers in other centers that were willing to buy the Zimbabwe rough.

Back then, manufacturers gave contrasting responses on whether such separation was possible, as factories tended to aggregate their supply from different mines into size and quality categories. Today, we know it is indeed possible, thanks to technology such as radio-frequency identification (RFID).

But what happens once the diamond leaves the factory? Or even before it arrives from the mine?

With millennials raising the bar when it comes to ethical consumption, these questions need to be answered. In fact, millennials are not so much demanding that the diamonds they buy be responsibly sourced, as assuming it to be the case.

That tells us two things: First, the cost of not being able to vouch for your supply is extremely high, and second, consumers value the story of traceable diamonds if it is told to them.

That’s not to say such diamonds will sell at a premium in the long term. Rather, we expect that source-verification programs, with innovative marketing behind them, will become a standard feature of diamond sales. In that sense, today’s early adopters are setting themselves up for success.

In the October issue of the Rapaport Research Report, we try to identify the added value these programs provide. We also assess the most effective ways to trace a diamond, focusing on some of the more innovative programs available today.

Are blockchain systems, which record the data flow associated with the diamond, enough, or should we focus on programs attempting to track the physical stone? Would it be more productive for retailers to build their own platforms to trace their diamond supply back to the source? Or is it better for miners, manufacturers, and third parties such as the grading labs to provide tracking services that retailers can tap into?

The last year or two has brought examples of all of the above, many of which are still in the pilot phase and likely to need some fine-tuning. It’s encouraging that the trade is engaged in this conversation. The diamond and jewelry industry needs to satisfy ethically conscious millennials and keep up with consumer trends. And even if it’s unclear whether a traceable diamond can sell at a higher price than a non-traceable one, source verification is a necessity moving forward; it’s simply the right thing for the industry to do.

Image: Chow Tai Fook laser inscribes diamonds for its T Mark program. (Chow Tai Fook)

Source: diamonds.net

Diamond industry leaders collaborate to create Tracr blockchain platform

Alrosa has joined the collaborative programme being led by De Beers, Tracr, the end-to-end diamond industry blockchain traceability platform.

Alrosa will join industry leaders from the diamond manufacturing and retail sectors in creating the blockchain platform by the industry, for the industry.

Following the announcement of the Tracr pilot earlier this year, Alrosa’s involvement brings the world’s two largest diamond producers together to provide enhanced assurance for consumers and trade participants about the provenance and authenticity of their diamonds, and in creating a digital foundation for new services that can only be developed on an end-to-end platform.

Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, says:

“To provide true traceability, diamonds must be tracked from their point of production. We are delighted that Alrosa has joined the Tracr pilot, as the collective efforts of the world’s two leading diamond producers will enable more of the world’s diamonds to be tracked on their journey from mine to retail.

“Having a critical level of production on the platform will deliver significant benefits for consumers and diamond industry participants.”

Sergey Ivanov, CEO, Alrosa, says:

“Traceability is the key to further development of our market. It helps to ensure consumer confidence and fill information gaps, enabling people to enjoy the product without any doubts about ethical issues or undisclosed synthetics.

“Alrosa is glad to participate in testing Tracr, along with other market solutions. We believe tracing requires industry cooperation and complementation for the sake of a common goal.”

Jim Duffy, General Manager, Tracr, says:

“As Tracr’s adoption grows, we will continue to raise the bar for the traceability, authenticity and provenance of diamonds.

“We look forward to working with all members of the industry to ensure we deliver a comprehensive platform that creates value for diamond businesses while meeting the consumer’s expectations.”

Tracr is focused on providing consumers with confidence that registered diamonds are natural and conflict-free, improving visibility and trust within the industry and enhancing efficiencies across the diamond value chain.

In addition, Tracr will work to complement and support the diamond industry’s existing initiatives and regulations to ensure consumer confidence in diamonds, including the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, World Diamond Council System of Warranties and Responsible Jewellery Council Code of Practices.

Shift to Larger Diamonds Boosts Alrosa

Alrosa’s sales increased in the third quarter amid stronger demand and a move toward larger diamonds, the miner reported.

Revenue from rough stones rose 12% year on year to $949 million for the three months ending September 30, the Russian company said Monday. While sales volume fell 11% to 6.7 million carats, the average price grew 26% to $142 per carat. Prices have climbed 5.2% since the beginning of the year on a like-for-like basis, it added.

“Average realised prices for rough, gem quality diamonds grew, driven by both general demand growth and a higher share of large diamonds,” the miner explained.

Meanwhile, polished-diamond sales surged 83% to $24.1 million.

Production grew 2% to 10.5 million carats during the quarter as the miner increased ore processing at its Jubilee pipe, and raised output at the Udachny and Severalmaz divisions.

In the first nine months of the year, revenue from rough stones improved 9% to $3.59 billion, and polished revenue increased 9% to $74 million. By volume, sales for the period fell 9% to 29.1 million carats. Production dropped 11% to 26.4 million carats due to the shutdown of the miner’s Mir asset and the termination of open-pit mining at the Udachnaya pipe, Alrosa said.

Alrosa has offered some of its inventory for sale over the past year to offset the lower production. As a result, its stockpiles have decreased 11% to 15.5 million carats as of September 30, compared with a year earlier.

Alrosa maintained its forecast of an 8% decline in production to 36.6 million carats this year, compared with 39.6 million carats last year.

Image: Rough diamonds on a grader’s table. (Alrosa)

Source: diamonds.net

Christie’s to Sell 24carat Marilyn Monroe Diamond

Christie’s is set to auction a 24 carat diamond necklace that Marilyn Monroe wore for the premiere of her 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The fancy yellow, VS2 clarity Moon of Baroda which originated from the famous Galconda mine that also produced the Hope Diamond is estimated at $500,000 to $750,000. Christie’s will also auction an autographed photo of the actress wearing the stone, it said Wednesday. The picture carries a presale valuation of $10,000 to $15,000.

The 24.04 carat stone was first documented in the 15th century as part of the collection of the Gaekwads of Baroda, the ruling family of India. After disappearing for a few centuries, the piece turned up in the US in 1926, brought there by Prince Ramachandra, who then sold it.

In the 1950s, the Moon of Baroda was acquired by Meyer Rosenbaum, the president of Meyer Jewelry Company. Rosenbaum loaned it to Monroe for the opening of the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which she sings “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

In 1990, Christie’s auctioned the diamond in New York for $297,000. It subsequently remained out of the public eye for more than two decades.

“After 28 years, it has once again reappeared at Christie’s, only this time, the diamond has been classified as a historical diamond,” the auction house said.

Christie’s will preview the Moon of Baroda in Los Angeles from October 16 to 20, auctioning it at its Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale on November 27.

Main image: The 24.04-carat Moon of Baroda.

(Christie’s)

Side image: Marilyn Monroe wearing the necklace. (Frank Powolny)

Source: DIamonds.net

177 Carat Diamond Among the Stars of the Arctic

The three diamonds dubbed the “Diavik Stars of the Arctic” are, from left to right, the 177.71 carat “Vega,” the 24.82 carat “Capella” and the 59.10 carat “Altair.” Rio Tinto is offering the diamonds via tender, with bids closing later this month.

Known collectively as the “Stars of the Arctic,” the biggest of the three is “Vega of the Arctic,” a 177.71 carat rough diamond Vega Arctic Rough Diamondthat Rio Tinto said is one of the largest and most valuable gem quality diamonds to ever come out of Canada.