Diamond Mining – Page 32 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Last kimberlite trucked to plant at De Beers Victor mine

The last truckload of kimberlite from Ontario’s first and only diamond mine has left the pit. De Beers Canada said mining ceased on March 5 – 11 years to the day after the official opening in 2008.

The honour of driving the last truck went to Nancy Wesley, of Kashechewan First Nation. She worked at Victor for 11 years, as a haul truck driver, dozer operator and production drill operator.

Stockpiled kimberlite will keep the recovery plant running until early May.

The Victor mine was forecast to produce 6 million carats of diamonds over its life, but it beat that by recovering a total of 8 million carats – with a record 936,000 carats produced in 2018.

The project provided about 1,360 jobs and $3.7 billion of revenue to the province.

Lucapa to Sell Large Stones

Lucapa Diamond Company will sell six large stones weighing a total of 449 carats from its Lulo mine in Angola after an overhaul of the nation’s mining laws prompted it to delay the sale, it said.

The Angolan government introduced reforms to its diamond sector in the first half of the year to help boost foreign investment. Those measures included a new marketing policy for Angolan diamonds, and the option of offering goods for sale in locations such as Antwerp.

Anticipating the changes, Lucapa has been holding back a selection of large stones from previous sales, and will now sell them under the new policy, it explained Friday. These include six type IIa white diamonds weighing 114 carats, 85 carats, 75 carats, 70 carats, 62 carats and 43 carats, as well as a 46-carat pink diamond.

“The discussions with our Angolan partners regarding the policy changes taking place in the Angolan diamond sector have reached a stage where we are now able to plan for the sale of these large, premium-value Lulo diamonds held over from previous sales,” Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall said. “We look forward to marketing these exceptional diamonds as soon as the necessary arrangements are put in place to continue showcasing Angolan diamonds to the world.”

The decision to delay the tender for those stones had a negative impact on Lucapa’s first-half results, the company added. Its losses grew to $4.6 million for the period, versus a loss of $1.2 million a year earlier.

Even so, Lucapa’s sales rose 3% year on year to $15.9 million in the first half, while production for the same period climbed 15% to 9,566 carats. The average price of rough diamonds from Lulo rose 1% to $1,642 per carat. Rough-diamond inventory from the asset grew 61% year on year to 2,755 carats as of June 30, the miner reported.

Lucapa’s most recent sale of 2,531 carats of rough from Lulo fetched $2.5 million, achieving an average price of $985 per carat, the company noted.

Image: 46-carat pink Lulo diamond. Credit: Lucapa.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers’ recent diamonds sale the worst in two years

Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s No.1 diamond miner by value, has just had the lowest sales for its seventh cycle since it began releasing data in 2016, as it let customers delay acquiring smaller stones for the first time.

Sales for the cycle stood at a provisional $505 million, down 5.5% from the $533 million obtained in the previous cycle of the year and 0.4% from $507 million for same period in 2017.

“De Beers Group provided Sightholders with the opportunity to re-phase the allocation of some smaller, lower value rough diamonds.” chief executive officer, Bruce Cleaver, acknowledged in the statement.

The unusual move (De Beers is known for requiring buyers to take what’s offered) says lots about the state of the low-end diamond market. The last time the company did something similar, in fact, was two years ago, when India’s move to ban high-value currency notes pushed down demand.

Sales were down $134 million or 21% compared to the same cycle in 2016, when De Beers began releasing this kind of data.The diamond giant has about 80 handpicked clients called sightholders who are allocated parcels of diamonds sorted and aggregated in Gaborone. The 10 annual sales events are known as sights.

De Beers’ new strategy for small stones, paired with its looming entry into the lab-grown stones market, have many in the industry worrying about prices.

Cheaper diamonds, which are often small and low quality, are selling for a lot less now than five years ago. And when it comes to synthetic stones, De Beers’ entry in the market will create a big price gap between mined and lab diamonds, pressuring rivals that specialize in synthesized stones at the same time.

A 1-carat man-made diamond sells for about $4,000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8,000. De Beers new lab diamonds will sell for about $800 a carat. That’s a fifth of the price of existing man-made stones and one-tenth of the cost of buying a similar natural gem.

No wonder competitors are worried. The lab-grown industry has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, accusing De Beers of price dumping and predatory pricing.

Low sales, stable demand

In 2016, De Beers recorded sales of $639 million for the seventh of its tenth annual sales events. That is $134 million or 21% more than what it just made after letting buyers reject small, low-quality stones. That means that, to date, 2018 is shaping to be the worst in terms of sales for the Beers in the past two years, with combined sales of $3.93 billion against the previous year’s $4 billion and 2016’s sales of $4.12 billion.

The dip is sales comes despite demand has remained stable ahead of the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, at least according to what Cleaver said. The exhibit, which takes place from Friday this week to Tuesday next week, last year reportedly attracted 3,695 exhibitors and 59,122 buyers.

Source: mining.com

Botswana Diamonds picks up high potential kimberlite pipe in South Africa

Botswana Diamonds has been awarded the priority 2.5 ha Mooikloof kimberlite pipe concession. Using recently developed exploration techniques it will re-assess this high potential pipe.

The award of the Mooikloof Prospecting Licence is an important development for Botswana Diamonds.

Mooikloof was last prospected in 1986. The adjacent Oaks mine was owned and successfully operated by De Beers. The Oaks mine had a grade of 53 cpht at a value of $156 per carat.

The large flagship Venetia mine, operated by De Beers, is close by and in the same general geology.

Based on Botswana Diamond’s experience elsewhere, it suspects that past explorers may have systematically under estimated the kimberlite pipe size, grade and diamond quality of the Mooikloof kimberlite.

It will deploy state of the art exploration techniques to reassess the Mooikloof kimberlite, and maybe open another by passed kimberlite pipe development.

Botswana Diamonds has now received the Technical Economic Evaluation Report on the Thorny River Project.

The deposit is between 1.2 and 2 Mt, the grade is between 46 and 74 cpht and carat values between US$120 and $220 per carat.

The Technical Economic Evaluation Report indicated positive economics could potentially be achieved using the top end of the grade and value ranges, assuming additional kimberlite volume of similar grade and value can be defined with further exploration.

While not a Scoping Study as Botswana Diamonds had previously envisaged in the announcements dated 15 February 2018 and 21 March 2018, the Technical Economic Evaluation Report has provided the company’s directors with sufficient information to conclude that the Thorny River Project requires further investigation.

Consequently, the directors are considering the company’s various technical and commercial options, which will be studied simultaneously with ongoing exploration.

Drilling at Ontevreden confirmed the existence of a kimberlite pipe, but showed the pipe to be smaller than the previously indicated geophysical anomaly.

Given Botswana Diamond’s attractive priorities elsewhere, it now proposes no further work on Ontevreden.

“Significant progress has been made on our joint venture projects in South Africa,” comments Botswana Diamonds chairman, John Teeling.

“Analysis shows that a mine on the Thorny River deposit could be profitable assuming positive results from additional exploration. Now we must refine the volume, grade and value estimates while working on the mining model.

“But modern mineral exploration technology is not a magic bullet. Modern geophysics indicated a 0.7 ha pipe at Ontevreden. Our drilling confirmed a smaller pipe, which is not currently commercial”.

Source: miningreview

Petra Diamonds record output

Shares in Petra Diamonds climbed almost 8% on Monday after the miner reported a significant revenue increase in its third quarter driven by record production in the first three months of 2018.

The South African diamond producer, owner of the iconic Cullinan mine, which produced the diamonds for the British crown jewels, said revenue for the quarter ended March 31 climbed 44% to $172 million, from $119 million a year earlier.

Petra Diamonds saw third-quarter revenue grow by 44% after it produced and sold more gems.

The company, known for some major recent findings, attributed part of the revenue growth to the fact it sold 1,373,771 carats of diamonds compared to 1,069,886 sold in the same period a year earlier.

While production jumped 20% to a record quarterly volume of 1,194,947 carats, Petra said illegal mining at its Kimberley Ekapa Mining JV dented output during the quarter by restricted access to high grade dumps at the surface re-treatment operation.

It also said its full year 2018 revenue continued to be impacted by the inability to sell a blocked diamond parcel from it Williamson mine of about 71,000 carats. The shipment was seized by the Tanzanian government in September last year, as part of the country’s ongoing probe into alleged wrongdoing in the diamond and tanzanite sectors.

Chief executive Johan Dippenaar said the company’s focus would move away from volume targets to value optimization.

‘While we are very encouraged by the operational delivery against our long-term expansion plans, risks to performance continue to relate to increased volatility in the ZAR/US$ exchange rate, grade and pricing variability at Cullinan,” Dippenaar said in the statement, adding that the outlook for its Williamson mine as well as the blocked diamond parcel were also weighing on the company’s future.

Israel Gives $284M Boost to Diamond Trade

The Israeli government has pledged $284 million (NIS 1 billion) to guarantee bank loans to diamond companies in an effort to ease the trade’s severe credit difficulties.

A lack of credit is stifling growth, especially among the smaller firms that constitute about 70% of the Israeli trade, according to a special committee set up to investigate the sector’s challenges.

The team — led by Naama Kaufman-Pass, deputy director-general of the nation’s Ministry of Economy and Industry — released its findings earlier this month, highlighting several ways in which the industry had hit a crisis.

Banks’ perception of the diamond sector as high-risk has led to a decline in total lending to the Israeli trade from $2.5 billion in 2008 to about $1 billion last year, the committee said in its report. Financial institutions are also refusing to accept dealers’ inventory as collateral, while competition from India and Belgium has added further damage to Israel’s market position.

To this end, the government fund will back companies’ borrowing, meaning that if they fail to repay a loan to a bank, the state will pay. While the committee submitted the policy to Eli Cohen, minister of industry and economy, as a recommendation, the lawmaker said the government was set to go ahead with the program.

“We have decided to allocate another billion shekels over the next five years to the diamond sector through credit guarantees,” Cohen told an audience at the International Diamond Week in Israel last week.

In addition, the committee suggested the government provide money for the bourse’s newly launched innovation laboratory, put cash into bringing more diamond buyers to Israel, support efforts to develop e-commerce opportunities, and contribute to other projects to boost the industry.

“The committee identified the main hurdles in small businesses’ activities in the sector, and its recommendations offer a comprehensive response to its needs,” Kaufman-Pass said.

The diamond trade is an important segment of the Israeli economy, representing about 13% of total exports, and employing about 9,500 people, according to the report. However, the 2008 global financial crash led to a 27% slump in Israel’s polished-diamond exports between that year and 2016, with the Chinese market slump in 2015 also denting demand.

“Implementing the committee’s conclusions, alongside other steps, is essential, considering the crisis the sector has been through,” Cohen added in a statement. “Their purpose is to provide new tools to help deal with challenges in the trade and to ease regulation, thereby growing both production and exports.”

Shay Rinsky, director-general of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, set up the committee in September to delve into issues of credit and growth in the diamond trade and examine how to bring the industry forward.

Source: diamonds.net

Lucapa recovers more diamonds at Lesotho mine

Australia’s Lucapa Diamond has announced workers at its 70% owned Mothae mine in Lesotho have recovered diamonds sourced from residual material and kimberlite stockpiles.

The company said the rough diamonds were recovered through the existing bulk sampling plant and infrastructure at Mothae, which has been refurbished ahead of schedule as part of a previously announced bulk sampling program.

According to the statement the largest rough diamond recovered in the test run is 6.6 carats.

World’s largest rarest and most valuable D Flawless round diamond

102.34 carat D colour Flawless round diamond

To celebrate its one year anniversary, this morning Sotheby’s Diamonds revealed its most exceptional gem to date: a 102.34 carat, D Flawless, Type IIA round brilliant diamond, which the auction house describes as “the rarest and most valuable white diamond ever to come to market”.

The diamond was cut from a 425-carat rough mined by the De Beers group in Botswana. The cutting process took over six months and required the diamond to be transported between Johannesburg and New York.

De Beers Will Start Auctioning Other Mines Goods

De Beers will begin auctioning rough diamonds from other mining companies to provide a broader range of goods.

The company will pilot the new program this year, making it easier for customers to buy their entire supply in one place, Neil Ventura, De Beers executive vice president of auction sales, said on Monday.

“One message that’s come through from our recent customer engagements is a desire for us to develop our supply offering in certain areas, so that there is a fuller and broader range of material available for purchase,” Ventura said.

“Based on this customer feedback, in 2018 we will be testing the potential to grow our core rough-diamond sales business through making some purchases from third-party sources,” he added.

The diamonds will come from miners which De Beers has carried out due diligence, and will only be a small minority of the goods De Beers offers.

Historic 910 carat, The Fifth Largest Diamond Recovered

Gem Diamonds has recovered a 910 carat rough diamond at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the fifth largest rough ever found.

The D colour type IIa diamond is the largest to be unearthed at Letšeng, outranking the 603 carat Lesotho Promise recovered in 2006.

That stone was sold for $12.4 million, to Graff Diamonds, which owns a 15% stake in Gem Diamonds.

Last year, Graff bought the 1,109 carat Lesedi la Rona, the second largest rough diamond in history, for $53 million, or $47,790 per carat.

The discovery follows a recent revival of exceptionally large stones recovered at Letšeng, which is known for its high value production.