De Beers Sales Slide as Slow Trading Continues

De Beers’ sales value fell this month as global rough demand weakened and the miner reduced prices of its larger stones.

Proceeds dropped 32% year on year to $450 million at 2023’s fifth sales cycle from $657 million in the equivalent period a year earlier, De Beers reported Wednesday. Sales declined 6% compared with the $479 million that the fourth cycle brought in. The total included the June sight as well as auction sales.

“Following the JCK [Las Vegas] show, and with ongoing global macroeconomic challenges continuing to impact end-client sentiment, the diamond industry remains cautious heading into summer,” said De Beers CEO Al Cook. “Reflecting this, we saw demand for De Beers rough diamonds during the fifth sales cycle of the year slightly softer than in the fourth cycle.”

De Beers lowered prices at the sight by 5% to 10% mainly in 2-carat categories and larger, as well as for some 1- to 1.5-carat items, market insiders said. It also extended its buyback program, which allows sightholders to sell goods back to the miner following the purchase.

This reflected weakness in the rough that produces polished above 0.30 carats, and especially the stones that yield 1-carat finished diamonds. These sizes are especially weak in the US market amid economic uncertainty and a lull in engagements, dealers explained. Rough under 0.75 carats has seen a mild recovery as Indian manufacturers look to fill their factories with low-cost material.

Source: rapaport.com

The Industry’s Diamond-Origin Conundrum

The Group of Seven (G7) meeting that took place in Japan in mid-May proved to be an anticlimax for the diamond trade.

The industry had expected a major announcement to come from the meeting relating to required declarations on the origin of diamonds imported to those countries — an additional measure that would help prevent polished diamonds sourced from Russian-origin rough entering their markets.

While a clear guideline did not emerge, the member nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — pledged to work toward such measures.

“In order to reduce the revenues that Russia extracts from the export of diamonds, we will continue to restrict the trade in and use of diamonds mined, processed or produced in Russia,” the group said after the meeting.

As it stands, the US and the UK have implemented bans on diamonds sourced directly from Russia. However, the sanctions don’t account for “substantial transformation,” and consequently the manufacturing center is regarded as the source. For example, diamonds polished in Belgium, India, Israel or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Russian rough can technically be imported to the US.

Implementing such detailed declarations is proving more complicated than originally thought. Creating such mechanisms will take time, as Feriel Zerouki, the De Beers executive who heads the World Diamond Council (WDC), said in a recent panel discussion at the JCK Las Vegas show in early June. These measures would apply to the entire industry, seemingly requiring a disclosure of origin for all diamonds at customs.

“How do we support the [sanctions] without paralyzing the industry and making it very cumbersome for natural diamonds to enter the G7 countries,” Zerouki challenged the Las Vegas audience.

Setting standards
It’s a sensitive point for an already heavily audited industry, and for companies in each segment of the supply chain that would bear the added expense of verifying such information.

It’s also worth noting that the G7 cannot enact such requirements as a bloc. It will be left to each country to implement its own import rules. That said, there does at least seem to be an effort among those countries to apply some consistency in their systems. It was an open secret that members of various governments and industry bodies met in Las Vegas during the show to advance these discussions, which presumably covered a wide spectrum of industry-related issues.

Central to the talks must surely be the practicality of such declarations. What mechanisms are available to the industry that would facilitate traceability? And who verifies that these initiatives meet the required standards? And on what are those standards based?

The trade has at its disposal industry structures as well as company programs that tackle the challenge of traceability and source verification — although arguably nothing is foolproof.

See full article here

Lightbox Starts Selling Engagement Rings with Lab-Grown Diamonds

De Beers’ Lightbox lab-grown diamond brand is trialing sales of engagement rings, marking a major shift for the company, which previously insisted synthetic stones were not a product for important milestones.

The retailer is publicizing lab-grown diamond engagement rings on its home page, promising a “stress-free and risk-free” shopping experience. “Our cutting-edge technology ensures each of our lab-grown diamonds are quality guaranteed,” the site reads, with the marketing line: “Because great chemistry deserves great chemistry.”

A link takes viewers to a page listing 16 items featuring regular Lightbox lab-grown diamonds, or stones from the brand’s Finest line, which have higher color and clarity. The standard collection usually sells for $800 per carat plus the cost of the setting, while Finest retails at $1,500 per carat. The selection includes white, pink and blue stones, with prices ranging from $500 for a three-stone ring to $5,000 for 2 carats.

Lightbox was unavailable for comment on Sunday, but told Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) and JCK it was running “a small in-market test of consumer preferences in the lab-grown diamond engagement ring segment.”

When De Beers launched Lightbox in 2018, Bruce Cleaver, the miner’s CEO at the time, presented lab-grown as a product that “may not be forever, but is perfect for right now,” claimed there was “no real emotional value in lab-grown diamonds, because they’re not unique,” and said the stones did not warrant grading. It later debuted the Finest line, introduced stones larger than 1 carat, and started declaring the cut quality, color and clarity of its stones.

Source: Diamonds.net

Positive drill results in hunt for more kimberlites at Gahcho Kué for Mountain Province and De Beers

A 157-carat exceptional coloured gem diamond from the Gahcho Kué mine.

Mountain Province Diamonds reports positive drilling results at several targets at the Gahcho Kué diamond mine 300 km east-northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T. It has intersected 40 metres of kimberlite near the Tuzo resource and multiple intersections – as long as 287 metres of kimberlite – at the Hearne Deep and Hearne Northwest Extension targets.

The Gahcho Kué mine is a joint venture of Mountain Province (49%) and the operator De Beers Canada (51%).

The longest intersection, 287 metres, was drilled at the Hearne Northwest Extension. This target was identified late in 2021 when a 25-metre kimberlite exposure was discovered during routine mining operations in the Hearne pit. Drilling in 2022 pointed toward the presence of a significant, previously unknown kimberlite could exist. During the 2023 drill program, 10 of the 11 holes collared within and outside the Hearne pit intersected kimberlite.

“Combined with our earlier results, we now have 21 drillholes that define the extension below the final pit and to the northwest. We are actively engaged with our operating partner De Beers to look at ways to recover this deeper kimberlite by underground mining,” said Mountain Province president and CEO Mark Wall.

Following the success at the Hearne Northwest Extension, Mountain Province said drilling moved to the Tuzo kimberlite in the hope of finding a similar extension. A new kimberlite about 40 metres northeast of the modeled Tuzo resource was drilled. The intersection returned 40 metres of kimberlite.

Source: canadianminingjournal

55 Carat Ruby, 10 Carat Pink Diamond Each Fetch A Record $34.8 Million At Sotheby’s

The just completed Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale in New York is the first auction to sell two items for more than $30 million.

The first is the “Estrela de Fura,” a 55.22-carat Mozambique ruby that sold for $34.8 million ($630,288 per carat), establishing a world record price for a ruby and any colored gemstone sold at auction. It is also the largest ruby to be sold at auction. Its pre-auction estimate was more than $30 million.

The finished ruby was cut and polished from a 101-carat rough discovered by Fura Gems, a colored gemstone mining and marketing company based in Dubai. It was unearthed at its ruby mine in Montepeuz, Mozambique, in July 2022. The company named the rough gem, Estrela de Fura (Star of Fura in Portuguese). Even in its rough, untouched state, the ruby “was considered by experts as an exceptional treasure of nature for its fluorescence, outstanding clarity and vivid red hue, known as ‘pigeon’s blood’ — a color traditionally associated only with Burmese rubies,” Sotheby’s said in a previous statement.

The 10.57-carat "Eternal Pink” diamond

It’s rare for a mining company to cut and polish the gem and then sell it at auction. The usual route of recently found colored gems is to sell it to a company as a rough where they would cut and polish the gem, then it would sell it privately or at auction. However, Dev Shetty, founder and CEO of Fura Gems, chose to not only go on the auction route on his own, but to embark on a worldwide tour of the rare gem, promoting not only this stone, but rubies from Mozambique as equal to rubies from Burma, which has historically been considered the main source of the most sought-after rubies.

Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby’s Jewelry America, previously said the Estrela de Fura may signal a change of this perception.

“It is undoubtedly positioned to become the standard bearer for African rubies – and gemstones in general, bringing global awareness to their ability to be on par with, and even outshine, those from Burma,” Bruning said in a statement.

Source: forbes.com

4.83 ct Fancy Blue Diamond Sells for $8.8 million USD

A 4.83 carat fancy vivid blue diamond ring sold for $8.8m at Christie’s Hong Kong as the Magnificent Jewels sale brought in a total of almost $60m.

The brilliant cut IF Type IIb gem (pictured) was surrounded by fancy-cut diamonds, in a gold setting. It sold between the low and high estimates of $7m to $10.2m.

The blue diamond led the sale, followed by two items which both sold for above their high estimates.

An octagonal step-cut 21.38 carat sapphire in a platinum ring set with tapered baguette cut diamonds sold for $4.5m (high estimate $2.3m).

And an 8.92 carats fancy vivid yellow orange pear modified brilliant cut diamond, in a platinum and gold ring, with pear brilliant-cut diamonds of 1.12 and 1.11 carat, sold for $4m (high estimate $3.8m).

Source: IDEX

Botswana president insists on bigger share of diamonds from De Beers venture

Botswana will not back down on demands for a bigger share of rough diamonds from its joint venture with De Beers, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Thursday, upping the stakes as talks for a new sales deal appear to be stalling.

Botswana and De Beers mine the precious stones through their equally owned, 54-year-old mining venture, Debswana Diamond Co. The current diamond sales deal, in place since 2011, has been extended three times since 2020 but is set to expire next month.

De Beers, a unit of Anglo American Plc, gets 75% of Debswana’s production, which was 24 million carats in 2022. The balance is sold to state-owned Okavango Diamond Company, a vehicle established in 2011 as Botswana began moves to independently sell some gems outside of the De Beers system.

Masisi, who has been Botswana’s president since 2018 and will seek re-election in next year’s elections, now wants Botswana to sell more of its diamonds outside the De Beers channel.

“Our agreement with De Beers is very restrictive to us. We signed it at a time when we didn’t know much, but now our eyes are open,” Masisi said at a community meeting in Mmadinare, 400 kilometres (248.55 miles) north-east of the capital, Gaborone.

Masisi hinted at a possible stalemate and litigation over the sales agreement.

“Even if we lose the litigation, our diamonds will remain ours and we will never give in. If I am going to lose votes because of this issue, then so be it,” said Masisi, speaking in Setswana.

Masisi has previously threatened to walk away from the talks if Botswana does not get a bigger share of Debswana’s output for marketing outside the De Beers system. The government has not publicly stated what share it seeks, but it is believed to be as high as 50%, double the current allocation.

De Beers was not immediately available to comment.

The diamond giant says Botswana receives more than 80% of returns from Debswana, after taxes and royalties are factored in. De Beers has previously expressed confidence that its five-decade partnership with Botswana will continue, on terms “that make economic and strategic sense for both parties.”

Source: yahoo.com

Ultra-rare Bulgari Laguna Blu diamond sells for $25 million

A rare,11.16-carat fancy vivid blue diamond named the “Bulgari Laguna Blu” has fetched slightly more than $25 million at a Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva.

The auction house brought the clock back to pre-pandemic times by achieving the best performance since May 2018, with total proceeds of over 76 million Swiss francs (about $85m).

Sotheby’s noted the exceptional blue diamond was put up for auction last and after a four-minute bidding battle between three telephone bidders and one bidder in the room, it eventually found a buyer on the phone.

The sale made of the Bulgari Laguna Blu the most expensive jewel ever sold in Geneva. It is also the largest blue diamond in a Bulgari jewel and the brand’s most valuable gem to ever be put up for sale.

The Bulgari Laguna Blu is a rarity three times over, as it is a blue diamond, a jewel signed by Bulgari, and an unseen and unmodified gemstone.

Bulgari’s global Ambassador, actress Priyanka Chopra, wore the Bulgari Laguna Blu this year’s Met Gala in New York.

The Italian jewelry maker set the oceanic-blue sparkler in a bespoke diamond necklace for actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and the stone then was removed and remounted onto a ring—similar to the house’s original 1970s design.

The diamond was initially mounted as a ring by Bulgari for a special commission by the original owner. It was sold in 1970 and it’s now part of a necklace.

Source: mining.com

Bulgari Laguna blue diamond could fetch $28m in auction

The Bulgari Laguna Blu diamond

A rare 11.16 carats fancy vivid blue diamond could fetch between 22 to 25 million Swiss francs ($24 to $28 million) when it goes under Sotheby’s hammer next week in Geneva.

Named the Bulgari Laguna Blu, the pear-shape cut diamond boasts a rich blue hue that the auction house qualifies as “extraordinary” and “mesmerizing”.

It is the highest grade blue diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the third-largest pear-shaped fancy vivid blue diamond to ever go for sale on an auction, according to Olivier Wagner, head of jewellery at Sotheby’s Geneva.

The gem, first exhibited at the famous Met Gala fashion show in New York on Monday, is expected to attract the interest from global collectors.

Breakthrough Tech ‘Pinpoints Origin of Every Diamond’

A Swiss company claims it has developed technology that chemically profiles any diamond so it can identify the country – and even the specific mine – of origin.

Spacecode says it analyzes diamonds at a molecular level to determine where it was mined, so it doesn’t matter whether the stone has been registered earlier in the supply chain.

The company has been in talks with the G7 and EU nations about the possibility of using its technology to identify Russian diamonds.

“Our research started 10 years ago, but over the past three years we have developed a specific technology that identifies the provenance of any diamond,” said Pavlo Protopapa the company’s CEO.

“We are the first ever to hold such unique technology, which is a major game changer all along the diamond supply chain.”

“We plan to produce by the end of this year our initial units. By 2024, we will offer on a large scale to the global diamond and jewelry industries, a small easy-to-use device that will define the country of origin of rough and polished diamonds.”

Protopapa added that “in meetings with the G7 and the EU representatives, we have received enthusiastic interest. Within months, we will deliver a small, easy-to-use device that will identify Angolan, Botswanan, South-African and of course, any Russian diamonds. We will leave it for the politicians to decide what to do with it”.

Spacecode’s breakthrough technology analyzes the chemical composition of a diamond on a molecular level, and with Artificial Intelligence tools, creates a “chemical profile” of the run of the mine of a specific diamond mine.

The technology identifies not only the country of origin, but even the specific mine in which it was mined.

Spacecode’s diamond inventory management technology already tracks more than 25 million stones. The company has a team of 15 engineers and specialists, and over 300 clients.
Its technology could be adopted by the G7 and the EU to impose effective sanctions on both rough and polished diamonds from Russia.

It could also be used by the Kimberley Process and other organizations, to end, for example, the export of Angolan diamonds through other African countries.

Source: IDEX