The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)
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The two Rough diamonds each weighing more than 100 carats were recovered by Gem Diamonds at the Lesotho mine in southern Africa.
Both rough Diamonds weight 117 carats and 110 carats are D color Type IIa diamonds.
Type IIa diamonds carbon bonds contain little or no nitrogen atoms making them very white and rare. These are the most expensive white diamonds.
Diamond Miner Gem Diamonds has found a 202 carat rough diamond at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, Sothern Africa. The rough diamond is the latest of seven recovered over 100 carats this year.
The D colour type IIa diamond was recovered when they mine switched to the higher grade K6 section of the main pipe earlier this year.
The Letšeng mine is one of the highest diamond deposits by value in the world with the an average price of $2,397 per carat for the July tender.
De Beers is planning to add the world’s largest custom built diamond mining vessel to its fleet at a cost of $142 million.
The ship will be the sixth belonging to Debmarine Namibia, a 50/50 joint venture between the miner and the Republic of Namibia, De Beers said Tuesday. Expected to begin operations in 2021, it will enhance the company’s ability to recover diamonds off the southern African country’s Atlantic coast, the rough producer added.
“There is a great amount of potential in Namibia’s marine diamond deposits, and this new vessel will support our strategy to continue to grow our offshore operations,” said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver.
Earlier this year, De Beers launched the MV SS Nujoma, the world’s largest diamond sampling and exploration vessel. Acquiring the new ship will help the company capitalize on that vessel’s work, and support the long-term future of Namibia’s diamond sector, Cleaver added.
Kleven Verft, a Norwegian ship-building company that constructed the Nujoma, will also build the new vessel, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with De Beers.
Source: Diamonds.net
Dealers reported a difficult but stable rough market as De Beers’ November sight closed with a value of $455 million — 4% lower than the same period a year ago.
The rough market improved slightly from the October sight, which was the smallest sale of the year as Indian manufacturing slowed for Diwali. However, sightholders still noted weak profitability on De Beers goods during November, with premiums on the secondary market close to zero.
Most boxes of diamonds from last week’s sight commanded prices on the dealer market that did not cover the costs of doing deals, explained Dudu Harari of diamond broker Bluedax in a report on the sight.
Read More: diamonds.net
The largest diamond offered at an auction went under the hammer in Geneva Tuesday setting a world record for a diamond of its shape.
The D colour 11A type flawless diamond was Polished from a 404 carat rough diamond which was recovered in February 2016 in the Lulo mine in Angola.
The 163.41 carat called The Art of Grisogono, sold for $33.8 million, after taxes and commissions, at the Christie’s autumn jewellery auction.
Alrosa the Russian miner and top diamond producer by output, recovered three gem quality large rough diamonds.
A 82.82 carat, a 108.34 carat, and a 163.11 carat all light yellow or yellow.
All three rough diamonds were recovered at the Jubilee kimberlite pipe, one of Alrosa’s Mining units Aikhalsky in the country’s northeast.
The three diamonds will be sent to Alrosa’s for assessment in the coming days.
Due to resources dwindling Beers’ joint ventures will close four diamond mines by 2022.
Namdeb is a DeBeers project with the government of Namibia, Will close the Elizabeth Bay mine at the end of 2018 followed by the Daberas deposit at the end of 2019 and Sendelingsdrif in 2020. The main asset Southern Coastal will close in 2022.
Production saw a shift to offshore assets this past year. For the first nine months of 2017, Debmarine’s production surged 22% to 1.1 million carats.
Subdued world economic growth will make the next few years challenging, mainly due to negative impacts forecast in exchange rates and other indices.
De Beers’ October sight closed with a value of $370 million as rough-diamond buying slowed due to holidays and sightholders reported a sluggish dealer market.
Proceeds from the miner’s eighth sales cycle fell 27% from $507 million in the previous sight in August, and dropped 25% compared with the equivalent period a year ago, according to Rapaport records. Rough prices were largely unchanged from the previous sight, sightholders noted, with many dealers on the secondary market struggling to make a profit on the goods or even cover costs.
De Beers offered fewer rough diamonds for sale during the month as last week’s sight occurred during a period when polishing factories in India and Israel were closed for religious holidays, the company’s CEO Bruce Cleaver explained Tuesday.
“Sales were in line with expectations, at what is a seasonally slower time for rough-diamond demand,” Cleaver added.
The Indian cutting industry is preparing to close for Diwali, which occurs this Thursday. Buyers brought rough purchases forward to the July sales cycle because of the relatively early date of the festival this year, De Beers noted at previous sights. The last two sights have both been significantly smaller than a year ago as a result.
Sightholders were optimistic about the end-of-year holiday season, even as De Beers’ rough sales have declined 7% to $4.38 billion for the year to date, Rapaport records show. Russian miner Alrosa echoed this positive outlook, also noting that the timing of Diwali had weakened sales in September.
“We expect the traditional revival of the market situation in the fourth quarter, as the industry starts to prepare for the winter holiday season,” Alrosa vice president Yury Okoyomov said last week.
Source: diamonds.net
Rapaport Group has been appointed as the marketing and sales agent of the Peace Diamond by The Government of Sierra Leone.
The 709 carat Rough Diamond was recovered by diamond diggers in the village of Koryardu in Sierra Leone West Africa.
50% of the Peace Diamond sale value will directly go to benefit the community where the diamond was discovered, and the people of Sierra Leone.
Sotheby’s Auctioneers announced the upcoming auction of the Raj Pink diamond.
Weighing 37.30 carats the Pink diamond is the largest Fancy Intense Pink Diamond, according to Sotheby’s.
The Pink Diamond will feature at the auction house’s Magnificent Jewels in Geneva next month, and is estimated to fetch $20 million to $30 million USD.
The Original Rough Diamond was studied for over a year before the master cutter finished the polished Raj Pink Modified Cushion Brilliant cut