A white gold ring, necklace and earrings with diamonds
The industry continued to downsize in the US in the third quarter, according to the latest data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).
Some 113 businesses exited the sector during the three months ending September 30, compared with 101 in the same period a year earlier, the figures showed Friday. In total, the number of companies active in the US industry fell 1.9% year on year to 23,984.
Bankruptcies dropped to zero from nine a year earlier, while closures due to consolidation — mergers, acquisitions and similar transactions — declined to 28 from 37 a year before. However, 85 companies left the industry for other reasons that the JBT does not specify, up from 55 for the same quarter in 2020.
Rio Tinto achieved record-breaking figures at its 2021 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, with prices strong amid dwindling supply from the mine.
Once in a Blue Moon
The Australian miner offered 70 rare pink and red diamonds at the last-ever edition of the tender, which follows Argyle’s closure in November 2020. The “historical” collection, called The Journey Beyond, comprised the final diamonds mined during the Western Australian deposit’s last year of operation, Rio Tinto said Thursday.
“The 2021 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender delivered a record-breaking price performance across individual diamonds and for the overall collection,” the company noted. “The diamonds were fiercely contested around the world in a series of virtual and face-to-face viewings.”
A total of 19 bidders from nine countries successfully acquired lots, with prices maintaining their upward trajectory, Rio Tinto explained. Australian jeweler Calleija bought several stones, including the Argyle Eclipse, a radiant-shaped, 3.47-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond, and the Argyle Bohème, a radiant-shaped, 1.01-carat, fancy-red diamond.
A veteran bidder in Singapore took home both the Argyle Stella, a square radiant-shaped 1.79-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink diamond, and the Argyle Solaris, a radiant-shaped, fancy-intense pink weighing 2.05 carats. Another, based in the US, won the Argyle Lumiere, a square radiant-shaped, 2.03-carat, fancy-deep-pink diamond.
Alongside the pink-diamond tender, Rio Tinto sold a record-breaking collection of 41 blue and violet diamonds from Argyle to a single buyer. Hong Kong fancy-color specialist Kunming Diamonds purchased the entire 24.88-carat lot in a “history-making global bid” at the separate Once in a Blue Moon tender, the miner said. The stones are the final blues to come from Argyle. Kunming also won nine pink lots.
“I don’t think it’s ever been so competitive, so mind-blowing in terms of how the prices have been, how much competition we faced, and there was a lot of emotional premium everyone added, as this was the ultimate tender,” Harsh Maheshwari, executive director of Kunming, told Rapaport News. “So I guess everyone felt that they would like to at least own a few tender stones while they had the opportunity.”
It’s rare for there to be so many successful bidders at the pink tender, Maheshwari noted. Usually, only half that number would take home diamonds.
“This basically shows how varied the prices must have been, and that these stones went to jewelers from all over the world,” Maheshwari added.
Lucapa Diamond Company’s revenue rose in the third quarter amid strong demand and an increase in sales volume.
Sales from the miner’s Lulo deposit in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho soared 86% to $8.6 million for the three months ending September 30, it said last week. Sales volume jumped 57% to 15,690 carats, outweighing a 14% drop in the average price to $995 per carat.
“The market for diamonds continued to be buoyant in a constrained rough-supply environment,” said Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall. “As a result, we have upgraded our full-year guidance.”
Production from Lulo increased 1% year on year during the quarter to 9,444 carats, with the miner recovering 83 diamonds above 10.8 carats. The largest of those was a 94-carat, D-color, type IIa white stone. Lucapa also unearthed several fancy-pink diamonds during the quarter, it noted.
Output from Mothae came to 9,567 carats, with 60 diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats. The Australia-based miner recovered a 51-carat stone, along with a number of fancy-light pinks and yellows. Lucapa did not produce any rough from Mothae during the same period last year, as the site was on care and maintenance due to Covid-19-related regulations in Lesotho.
Lucapa has made progress toward satisfying the conditions for its acquisition of the Merlin mine in Australia. It believes the final outstanding conditions will be dealt with in the fourth quarter.
The company upgraded its guidance for the full year due to the strong demand. It expects revenue to be between AUD 66 million ($48.9 million) and AUD 71 million ($52.6 million), compared to the AUD 50 million ($37 million) to AUD 56 million ($41.5 million) it forecast in May.
The miner is also conducting exploration at the Brooking lamproite project in Australia and the Orapa site in Botswana.
Image: A selection of rough white, pink and yellow diamonds sold during the quarter.
Christie’s will offer a 74-carat diamond necklace that could fetch up to $7 million at its upcoming Hong Kong auction.
The piece contains a 73.68-carat, F-color, internally flawless center stone, called the Snowdrop Diamond, and 78 additional diamonds weighing a total of 130.92 carats. It will headline the auction house’s November 28 Magnificent Jewels sale, together with a heart-shaped, 36.20-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond pendant necklace carrying a high estimate of $3.2 million, Christie’s said Wednesday. Designer Ronald Abram created both jewels.
Two colored-diamond pieces are also set to star in the sale. A pair of earrings featuring fancy-vivid-blue diamonds weighing 3.06 and 2.61 carats along with white diamonds is set to go under the hammer with a price tag of up to $8 million. Meanwhile, a 3.32-carat, fancy-vivid-blue, internally flawless diamond ring could fetch as much as $6.4 million, Christie’s noted.
Other notable pieces include a jadeite cabochon ring with a high valuation of $1 million, a pair of jadeite cabochon earrings estimated at $480,000 to $750,000, and a jadeite, ruby and diamond necklace and bracelet set by Cartier.
A selection of cufflinks containing diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires, assembled over decades by a prominent private collector, will also be on offer, the auction house added.
Christie’s will preview the items in Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo; Shanghai; Beijing; and Hong Kong.
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Gem Diamonds has unearthed two large rough stones from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, marking the fourth and fifth diamonds from the deposit over 100 carats this year.
The stones — weighing 245 and 102 carats — are high-quality, white, type II diamonds, the miner said Monday. The company found both stones on the same day.
The recoveries follow that of two diamonds weighing 370 and 254 carats in May. The company also discovered a 146.9-carat rough in January.
Output of large stones has been sluggish in the first half of the year as Gem Diamonds mined lower-value areas of the deposit, it explained. In the first six months of the year, the company unearthed three 100-carat-plus diamonds, compared to seven in the same period of 2020. Last year, Gem Diamonds recovered 13 stones greater than 100 carats by September 30, and 16 for the full year.
Alrosa’s rough-diamond prices have reached their highest level since late 2018, as scarcities have prevented the Russian miner from meeting strong demand.
The company’s rough-price index, which tracks like-for-like valuations, jumped 22% year on year in the third quarter and rose 10% versus the previous three months, it reported Friday.
While the diamond market’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis eased during the period, sales were still well above 2020 figures. Total diamond revenue climbed 59% year on year to $938.1 million for the quarter, with rough sales gaining 63% to $903.8 million. The average selling price dropped 10% to $99 per carat.
“Jewelry demand is strong in all the key markets,” the company explained. “At the same time, rough-diamond stocks at miners are at minimal levels, as supply structurally dropped.”
The rough market began to recover in the third quarter of 2020 as consumer sentiment returned following the initial coronavirus-induced lockdowns. This led to a strong holiday season for retailers and a buoyant restocking period in the first quarter of 2021, leaving miners with minimal inventory from the second quarter onward.
This lower availability of goods contributed to a decline in sales in the third quarter relative to the second quarter, the miner pointed out.
The price index has advanced 25% since the beginning of the year, hitting a level the company last saw in the fourth quarter of 2018. Its stockpiles increased slightly to 8.6 million carats in the third quarter — up from an almost unprecedented low of 8.4 million carats in the second quarter — but were still down 72% year on year.
This also reflected a 5% year-on-year drop in production to 8.8 million carats. Although sales volume exceeded this, rising 83% to 9.2 million carats, inventories still grew because Alrosa was able to sell some 696,500 carats that it bought from Russian state gem depository Gokhran.
Meanwhile, sales from the miner’s polished-diamond division slipped 4% to $34.3 million.
In the first nine months of 2021, total diamond sales more than doubled to $3.27 billion versus $1.58 billion in the same period of 2020, reflecting the global market rebound. Rough revenues came to $3.13 billion, compared with $1.51 billion a year earlier.
The world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry plans to acquire Charlotte-based Diamonds Direct in a $490 million deal.
Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG) said today that it has entered into an agreement to buy the local jewelry chain in an all-cash transaction. It would add to the Bermuda company’s portfolio of jewelry brands that already consists of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared, H. Samuel and Ernest Jones, among others. Signet operates about 2,800 stores altogether.
“The accretive addition of Diamonds Direct to our portfolio will further drive shareholder value with its distinct bridal-focused shopping experience and add a new entry point as we build lifetime customer relationships and strive to reach our $9 billion revenue goal over time,” Signet CEO Virginia C. Drosos said in a press release.
Shares in the company were trading at $80.88 at 2:30 p.m. today, down about 1.4% from $82.05 at yesterday’s close.
Diamonds Direct is currently owned by private-equity firm Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), which purchased the company in 2015 for an undisclosed amount.
Diamonds Direct was founded in 1995 in Charlotte. It now has 22 locations in 13 states, as well as an online presence. That includes its flagship store in SouthPark, at 4521 Sharon Road.
The Diamonds Direct leadership team, storefronts and branded offerings will remain in place following the acquisition, according to a company spokeswoman.
“Signet will retain the Diamonds Direct brand and our unique value proposition as a separate banner, and plans to position Diamonds Direct as a new and differentiated luxury offering among the Signet portfolio,” Kelsey Halford Diachenko said in an emailed statement to CBJ.
She added that Diamonds Direct is “really excited about the opportunities” it will have with Signet once the deal closes.
Itay Berger, current president of Diamonds Direct, will report directly to Drosos.
The jeweler has a buying office inside the world diamond exchange in Israel. That allows it to source directly from mines and diamond cutters around the globe, and handpick merchandise.
It offers loose and mounted diamonds, bridal jewelry, diamond and gemstone fashion jewelry, and designer jewelry from America’s top brands.
“As a result of this transaction, everything our customers know and love about Diamonds Direct will just be getting bigger and better,” Diachenko said. “While Signet will infuse their resources into our business to fuel our growth, the heart of who we are, how we operate and what we believe in will not change.”
The deal is expected to be completed in Signet’s fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, putting the anticipated closing date sometime between November and the first of February.
De Beers has begun investigating Greenland’s potential as a source of high-value marine diamonds.
The miner commissioned a government agency to carry out a survey into diamond deposits, which are “known to be present” near the coast in the west of the Arctic island, according to an environmental assessment report by De Beers.
The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) — part of the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities — carried out the eight-day research in late September. GEUS set up and ran the survey, with De Beers requesting to extend it and participate in it, a spokesperson for the miner told Rapaport News Wednesday.
The purpose of the “small-scale, early-stage research” was to understand the region’s topography, he added, noting that it was unclear whether the location lent itself to concentrated sediments.
“De Beers Marine (DBM) would like to determine whether the offshore environment is conducive to the formation of secondary diamond deposits,” the environmental report said. “In order to do this, high-resolution geophysical data is required.”
Marine diamonds are generally of high quality, because only the best stones survive the impact of being washed around by water. De Beers currently mines marine diamonds off the coast of Namibia; the country’s 2020 rough production had a value of $465 per carat, one of the highest in the world, according to Kimberley Process data. The company is not carrying out similar surveys anywhere else, the spokesperson confirmed.
De Beers also operates land-based mining in Botswana, South Africa and Canada.
A California woman visiting the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas found a 4.38 carat yellow diamond after less than an hour of searching.
Arkansas State Parks said Noreen Wredberg of Granite Bay was visiting the park with her husband on Thursday and had been looking for gems in an open field for about 40 minutes when she spotted something shiny on the surface.
“I didn’t know it was a diamond then, but it was clean and shiny, so I picked it up,” Wredberg recalled.
Wredberg’s husband, Michael, took her find to the Diamond Discovery Center, where it was identified as a 4.38 carat yellow diamond.
“When I first saw this diamond under the microscope, I thought, ‘Wow, what a beautiful shape and color,'” Park Superintendent Caleb Howell said. “Mrs. Wredberg’s diamond weighs more than four carats and is about the size of a jellybean, with a pear shape and a lemonade yellow color.”
Officials said Wredberg’s discovery is the largest diamond found at the park since October 2020.
Wredberg said she hasn’t yet decided whether to have the diamond cut or to leave it as is.
“I don’t even know what it’s worth yet. It’s all new to me,” she said.
