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.
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
There are a number of ways to verify that your diamond matches the diamond certificate it is purchased with. If you purchased a diamond that is laser inscribed, ask your jeweller to show you the laser inscription under magnification. This way, you will always be able to identify the diamond as your own.
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All of the 4 C’s are equally important; however, many people consider diamond cut to be the most important diamond characteristic, because even if a diamond has perfect colour and clarity, a diamond with poor cut quality will have dulled brilliance and life.