Stornoway Diamonds has suspended operations at its Renard mine in Canada amid the prolonged slowdown in demand for rough.
“The growing uncertainty of the diamond price in the short and medium term, coupled with the significant and sudden drop in the price of the resource on the world market, has had a major impact on the company’s long-term financial situation,” Stornoway said Friday. “This was in part due to the halt in the import of rough diamonds to India, and [in part to] the global geopolitical climate.”
The company will put Renard on care and maintenance to “preserve the assets and facilitate a rapid return to normal operations,” it explained. It will keep 75 of its 500 workers on staff to perform necessary tasks.
Stornoway will also seek creditor protection under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows financially troubled corporations owing more than $5 million to restructure their businesses and avoid bankruptcy. As part of this effort, the miner is “implementing a process for soliciting investment and sale proposals,” it added.
The Indian diamond-manufacturing sector announced in September that it was implementing a two-month moratorium on rough imports, from October 15 to December 15, to help reduce some of the oversupply that has built up in the midstream due to weak industry demand.
This is not the first time Stornoway has sought creditor protection under CCAA. In 2019, one of its creditors, Osisko Gold Royalties, acquired and revived the company during a restructuring process. Under the new ownership, the miner restarted operations in 2020 following a six-month halt due to Covid-19.
Botswana’s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has temporarily halted its rough stone sales as part of an industry-wide drive to reduce the glut of inventory caused by lower global demand for jewelry, its managing director Mmetla Masire said on Tuesday.
ODC, which reported a record $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022, holds 10 auctions a year to sell its 25% allocation of production from Debswana Diamond Company, a joint venture between Anglo American’s (AAL.L) De Beers and Botswana, in terms of the partners’ gem sales agreement.
Debswana produced about 24 million carats last year, with ODC getting an allocation of about 6 million carats.
The company has cancelled its November auction and a decision on the December sale is still to be made as the industry battles slowing demand for cut and polished diamonds in the U.S and China, Masire said.
“For the first time, we have had to build up inventory as we do not want to just irresponsibly release goods into a market which is already oversupplied,” Masire said in an interview. “For now, we have stopped the auctions, we will decide on the December auction.”
Last month, trade bodies in India, which cuts and polishes 90% of the world’s rough diamonds, urged members to halt rough diamond imports for two months to manage supplies and aid prices due to weak demand.
In August, De Beers said it would allow its customers to defer some of their purchases for the rest of the year.
As part of a new agreement between De Beers and Botswana, ODC’s allocation is set to rise to 7 million carats. Masire said the company was working on introducing contract sales, a model that De Beers uses to sell 90 % of its supply, among other new sales channels.
“We are still to decide on what percentage of our allocation will be sold through contract sales to complement our auctions,” Masire said. “We are likely to have two-year sales contracts and we are looking at going into partnership with only a limited number of buyers so that we can better serve them.”
The diamond sorting center in Mirny, Sakha Republic, Russia, November 14, 2013.
De Beers has put its weight behind the World Diamond Council (WDC) plan for sidelining Russian goods amid continued controversy over the competing proposals.
“In pursuit of a collaborative, coherent and collective solution that supports the aims of the G7, we have joined with 22 diamond-industry organizations through the World Diamond Council to progress the ‘G7 Diamond Protocol’ proposal,” De Beers CEO Al Cook wrote in an open letter to Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Thursday. “
The protocol — one of a few plans for keeping Russian diamonds out of G7 nations — calls for importers to declare on invoices that stones do not originate from mining companies operating in Russia. The companies making the claims will undergo audits.
While the WDC-led proposal has received wide industry support, it has also drawn criticism for creating a burden for small-scale industry members — including by Rapaport Group Chairman Martin Rapaport.
One other plan, from the Belgian government and supported by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), proposes using technology to confirm the source of goods, with the European city as a suggested center point for the trade of stones with known provenance.
Two further proposals — from India and a French jewelry group — were also on the table at a G7 meeting on Thursday, Reuters reported.
In another letter earlier this month, the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) attacked the process for not consulting people on the continent and claimed some of the plans would harm its members and artisanal miners. It highlighted the “G7 Certificate Scheme” — an apparent reference to the Belgian plan — as well as the WDC protocol.
“The proposed changes will bring supply-chain disruption, added burden, and costs to the ADPA mining nations,” the ADPA wrote in the October 13 letter to the Zimbabwe Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Soda Zhemu, who is chairing the Kimberley Process (KP) this year.
The plans will set a precedent for segregating diamonds by origin and damage producing countries’ ability to cut and polish their rough, the group argued.
In the case of the Belgian proposal, “additional costs will be incurred when a parcel of rough diamonds needs to be first shipped to Antwerp to then be reshipped to the country of origin to be polished,” said the Angola-based ADPA, which represents 19 countries that together account for 60% of global rough production.
Efforts to sift Russian diamonds out of G7 markets have taken on momentum since the bloc — which comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and the European Union — pledged to “work closely together to restrict trade” in those goods in May.
Where Are All the Russian Diamonds?
However, while there has been agreement about the need to stop Russia obtaining diamond revenues to fund its war in Ukraine, the process of implementing this has proven complex.
“Throughout our discussions, two things have been clear: why we should do this is easy, but how we should do it is hard,” said Cook.
The executive called for G7 leaders to obtain input from the industry and not exclude relevant groups, including artisanal miners.
“We look forward to further engagement with the G7 around the World Diamond Council proposal and urge those that have submitted proposals to work together to create an effective and practical solution,” Cook continued.
The industry had expected any measures to go into effect in January 2024. However, that schedule is now looking unlikely, JCK reported Friday, citing sources involved in the plans.
“We fully agree with Al [Cook]’s view that the results of our efforts to meet the G7 objectives should be collaborative, coherent and collective,” said WDC executive director Elodie Daguzan in a statement to Rapaport News. “In [the] WDC’s own words, it is what we call ‘an industry proposal that is effective and implementable now and that leaves no one behind.’ Also, we understand that the statement made by ADPA is not against the WDC-facilitated protocol but rather against the G7’s objectives without engagement with African producers.”
Rio Tinto has launched the Beyond Rare Tender, an inaugural collection of 48 lots of polished fancy-colored diamonds.
The miner will offer 87 diamonds in total, including its legacy inventory of pink and red stones from the shuttered Argyle diamond mine in Australia and yellow diamonds from its Diavik site in Canada, it said on Tuesday.
The new collection is “a testimony to the ongoing demand for highly collectible natural diamonds,” said Sinead Kaufman, chief executive of Rio Tinto Minerals. “This carefully curated collection of rare jewels will be in strong demand by the world’s finest jewelers, collectors and diamond connoisseurs.”
Titled The Art Series, the invitation-only tender is inspired by the art world, the company said. The combined weight of the diamonds is 29.96 carats.
They include the following:
Seven diamonds consisting of Argyle pink stones and yellow Diavik ones, which the company says will be accompanied by bespoke artwork.
An offering of 11 matched pairs of colored diamonds.
Thirty single diamonds, including one distinctive fancy-red Argyle diamond.
The closure of the Argyle mine in Australia and the continued strong demand for exceptional fancy pink and red diamonds means the market for Argyle pink and red diamonds “have never been stronger,” said Patrick Coppens, general manager of sales and marketing for Rio Tinto’s diamonds business.
The 48 lots will be shown in Australia, Switzerland and Belgium, with bids closing on November 20.
Hong Kong-based jeweler Luk Fook saw sales rise in the second fiscal quarter as tourists returned to the municipality in search of luxury items.
Same-store sales — at self-operated shops open for at least a year — jumped 31% for the three months ending September 30 compared with the same period a year ago, the company reported Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s border with the mainland reopened to tourists in January, while the territory’s government removed local restrictions. The municipality derives much of its luxury revenue from visitors — primarily from China — who travel there to purchase goods.
The retailer also attributed the growth to strong sales over the National Day Golden Week holiday as well as its decision to carry a greater proportion of gold products, which are more popular than diamond jewelry.
“Given the decreased demand for diamond products [on the] mainland, the group will continue to actively promote non-diamond fixed-price jewelry products, especially fixed-price gold products, in order to improve…performance,” it said.
The 41% increase in Hong Kong and Macau outweighed an 8% dip on the mainland resulting from a challenging economic situation and subdued consumer sentiment, the company explained.
Luk Fook’s same-store sales of gold — priced by weight at international market rates — grew 30% year on year during the quarter, while “fixed-price jewelry,” which refers to products sold at prices determined by the retailer, was up 36%. Overall, sales of fixed-price gold products increased 76%, while fixed-price diamond goods rose 19%.
“Since the full reopening of borders amongst Hong Kong, Macau and mainland…the Hong Kong and Macau market has shown consistent improvement,” Luk Fook noted. “The macroeconomic in the mainland market showed no signs of improvement and its consumption sentiment exhibited a slower recovery compared to the Hong Kong and Macau market…. This year marked the first National Day Golden Week after the return to normalcy following the pandemic. During this Golden Week period…the Hong Kong and Macau market sustained growth momentum.”
Sotheby’s will offer a 93.94-carat Paraiba tourmaline at its upcoming Geneva sale, the largest “top-quality” stone of its kind ever to come to auction, the company said.
The stone, which is set into a bespoke necklace created by Adler Joailliers, will be one of the star lots in the November 8 Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale, Sotheby’s said Monday. The auction house expects it to fetch between $1.3 million and $2.5 million.
The necklace, called the Blue Lagoon, features a “waterfall” of round and marquise- and pear-shaped diamonds with a total weight of more than 76 carats, the company noted. It will be offered with the original sketch.
Hailing from Mozambique, the stone is distinguished by “an extraordinary electric blue hue,” which recalls the “crystalline waters of a tropical paradise,” Sotheby’s said. Finding Paraiba tourmalines of this size, with such strong saturation and color, is extremely difficult, the auction house added.
Adler is a family business, created in 1886 by Jacques Adler in Istanbul. His grandsons, Franklin and Carlo, opened a boutique in Geneva in 1972. Since 2015, it has been run by the next generation of Adlers — Allen, who is CEO, and his wife, Daisy, who is chief operating officer.
WD Lab Grown Diamonds, the second largest lab grown producer in the USA, has filed for bankruptcy.
The Washington DC-based company is the first major casualty of the plunge in lab grown prices.
It filed for Chapter 7 protection last Wednesday (11 October) in a Delaware bankruptcy court, with disclosed liabilities of $44m with assets of $3m.
WD pioneered chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamonds since 2008 and had its own patented process.
In 2016 it produced its first 5 carat round brilliant diamond and in 2018, it set a record for the largest gem quality lab grown, at 9.04 carat.
In 2021 it acquired J2 Materials, and advanced materials and diamond crystal growth laboratory based in Chicago.
WD generated $33m of revenue last year, according to a Financial Times report. But the company has fallen victim to low prices and intense competition from China and India.
Gem Diamonds has unearthed a 101.96-carat rough from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, its second stone over 100 carats so far this year.
The miner discovered the gem-quality, type IIa diamond on September 28, it said Wednesday. The find follows that of a 122-carat stone on March 5.
While Letšeng had previously been known for producing high-quality rough diamonds topping the 100-carat mark, that supply has been declining. Last year, the miner retrieved only four diamonds of that magnitude, versus six in 2021 and 16 in 2020.
The lack of special-size stones has hurt the company’s revenue, with sales falling 28% year on year to $71.8 million in the first six months of 2023. The miner incurred a loss of $1 million, compared to a profit of $3.8 million during the same period in 2022.
Australia’s Lucapa Diamonds has appointed interim chief executive Nick Selby as its permanent CEO and Managing Director.
Selby, an extraction metallurgist who joined Lucapa in 2014, took the helm in August this year following former boss Stephen Wetherall’s decision to step down earlier this year.
The new CEO began his career with De Beers, where he spent 19 years in a range of technical roles. He joined Gem Diamonds in 2005, where he was responsible for various diamond projects in countries including Angola, Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Indonesia, Lesotho and Botswana.
Lucapa has a 40% interest in the Lulo mine, in Angola, and a 70% interest in the Mothae mine in Lesotho. The company, debt-free since July, is exploring for more diamonds at Lulo as it works toward bringing its Merlin project in Australia into production.
Merlin is home to Australia’s largest mined rough diamond on record and has the potential to be the only producing diamond mine in Australia, following the closure of Rio Tinto’s iconic Argyle mine in 2020, after 37 years in production.
Sarine is introducing a traceability solution for melee diamonds.
The Israel-based diamond tech company is expanding its existing technology to cover the smaller stones (generally under 0.2-cts) widely used in jewelry settings.
“To guarantee responsible sourcing of melee and enhance consumer confidence, we specifically aim to enhance the certainty regarding the diamonds’ provenance, by establishing a verifiable documented link between the rough diamonds and their origin and the polished stones used in the jewellery piece,” the company said.
Sarine partnered with the high-end French jeweler Rubel & Menasche, to develop and test its new, data-backed verifiable traceability system, which scales up its tried and tested Journey technology to handle large quantities of small stones. Parcels are initially registered on the Autoscan Plus system.
Rubel & Menasche described the new technology as an “important milestone”. David Block, Sarine’s CEO, said: “This initiative reaffirms our commitment to a more transparent diamond industry.”
