The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has graded a 27-carat lab-grown stone that it claims is the world’s largest polished synthetic diamond.
Indian lab-grown company Greenlab created the marquise step-cut, 27.27-carat diamond, named Om, IGI said Wednesday. The stone, which has no color enhancement, was grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Along with Om, the IGI graded two additional lab-grown stones submitted by Greenlab, including Shivaya, an emerald-cut diamond weighing 20.24 carats, and Namah, a pear rose-cut, 15.16-carat polished. Greenlab plans to display the diamonds at the JCK Las Vegas show, it noted.
Previously, the largest known polished CVD diamond was a princess-cut, 16.41-carat, G-color, VVS2-clarity stone created by Shanghai Zhengshi Technology. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) graded the stone in January.
At the time, the largest polished lab-grown diamond of any sort the GIA had examined was a cushion-cut, 20.23-carat, fancy-vivid-yellowish-orange, VS2-clarity diamond created using the High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) method in 2019.
Africa focused Gem Diamonds has found a 129 carat rough stone at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the miner’s first one over 100 carats mined this year.
The high quality white diamond was recovered at the site over the weekend, Gem Diamonds said. The company, known for the recovery of large, high quality stones in 2020, has seen output of those diamonds become less frequent over the past year.
In 2021, Gem Diamonds found only six diamonds over 100 carats at Letšeng. This compares to 16 rocks of more than 100 carats discovered in 2020.
The find comes as prices for small diamonds have jumped about 20% since the start of March, as cutters, polishers and traders struggle to source stones outside Russia.
State-owned Alrosa, the world’s top diamond producer by output, was hit with US sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Higher prices for lower end stones are good news for miners, but not a game changer, experts say. While every mine is different, a general rule of thumb is that 20% of production the best stones account for about 80% of profits.
Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, Gem Diamonds has found more than 60 white gem quality diamonds over 100 carats each.
Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, the company has found more than 60 white gem quality diamonds over 100 carats each, with 16 of them recovered last year.
At an average elevation of 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.
Lucapa Diamond Company yesterday announced the recovery of a 204 carat diamond from the Mothae mine in Lesotho.
According to the company’s statement, the 204 carat white stone is the eighth +100 carat diamond and third +200 carat to be recovered from the Mothae mine since commercial mining commenced in January 2019, underlining its unique large stone nature.
Lucapa Diamond Company is an ASX listed diamond miner and explorer with assets in Africa and Australia. It has interests in two producing diamond mines in Angola (Lulo) and Lesotho (Mothae).
“The large, high-value diamonds produced from these two niche African diamond mines attract some of the highest prices per carat for rough diamonds globally,” the company said.
The Lulo mine has been in commercial production since 2015, while the Mothae mine commenced commercial production in 2019.
Botswana, Africa’s top diamond producer, sees a prolonged ban on Russian diamonds opening the way for synthetic gems to expand market share, the country’s minister told a mining conference on Monday.
The United States, the world’s largest market for natural diamonds, imposed sanctions on Russia’s state-controlled Alrosa in April, aiming to cut off a source of revenue for Moscow after its February invasion of Ukraine.
Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds, accounted for about 30% of global output in 2021.
Botswana’s Minister of Minerals and Energy Lefoko Moagi said the ban on Russia diamonds might push prices up to the benefit of rival producers but he also said the gap would be hard to fill.
“We see the 30% gap that will be left by the ban being plugged by something else that is not natural. And for us that will be a challenge,” he said.
Jacob Thamage, head of Botswana’s Diamond Hub, said uncertainty over the Ukraine conflict makes it difficult for Botswana and other natural diamond miners to fill the supply gap as ramping up operations requires significant investment.
“You don’t want to invest a lot of money to up-scale and then the war ends the next day,” Thamage said. “We also see the higher prices pushing consumers to substitutes such as the synthetics and this can cause problems for us if we cede the market to unnatural stones.”
Sales at Debswana, a joint venture between Anglo American unit De Beers and Botswana’s government, accounts for almost all of Botswana diamonds exports. These stood at $3.466 billion in 2021 compared with $2.120 billion in 2020.
Thamage also fears that consumers might start to shun natural diamonds due to traceability issues.
“There is an increased fear that buyers of diamonds will begin to treat all natural diamonds as conflict diamonds and therefore shift to unnatural diamonds,” he said.
Alrosa canceled its last sale in April and is unlikely to sell any large volumes again this month
Prices are surging in some corners of the rough-diamond market, as sanctions on one of the world’s two giant miners ripple through the supply chain. In the past, the industry could turn to behemoth De Beers to crank out extra gems when supply ran tight — but not this time.
The price of a small rough diamond, the type that would end up clustered around the solitaire stone in a ring, has jumped about 20% since the start of March, according to people familiar with the matter. The reason: Diamond cutters, polishers and traders are struggling to source stones after the US levied sanctions on De Beers’s Russian rival, Alrosa PJSC, which accounts for about a third of global production.
For most of the modern history of diamonds, this is the sort of situation where De Beers could have tapped its vast stockpiles or simply fired up latent mining capacity. Little more than 20 years ago, its safes in London held stocks of diamonds worth perhaps as much as $5 billion.
Those days are now long gone. The company only carries working inventory stocks and its mines are running at full tilt. There is little chance of material increases in supply before 2024, when an expansion at its flagship South African mine will be completed.
“It’s very difficult to see us bringing on any new production,” Chief Executive Officer Bruce Cleaver said in an interview in Cape Town. “Thirty percent of supply being removed isn’t sustainable.”
De Beers also produces relatively few of the type of diamonds Alrosa specializes in: the small and cheap gems that surround a larger center-point stone or are used in lower-end jewelry sold in places like Walmart or Costco.
For many in the sector, that means growing shortages unless Alrosa and its trade buyers can find a work around.
Alrosa canceled its last sale in April and is unlikely to sell any large volumes again this month, the people said. It’s uncertain when the company will be able to sell normally again, they said, even as the company, banks and buyers look for solutions.
he largest white diamond to ever come up for auction has been sold for $21.9 million USD at Christie’s in Geneva. The 228.31-carat, pear shaped gemstone dubbed “The Rock” originated from South Africa, where some of the largest diamonds in the world have been found, including the pear-shaped “Star of Africa” and rose cushion cut “Golden Jubilee.” “The Rock” is about the size of a golf ball and was previously worn as a lavish Cartier necklace by its former owner. Along with the pear-shaped stone, the new owner will also receive a round diamond and platinum pendant mounting from the French luxury brand. World’s largest blue diamond to come to auction has sold for $57.5 million Ahead of the sale, the head of Christie’s jewelry department in Geneva, Max Fawcett, explained why “The Rock” is a particularly unique stone. “Often with these largest stones, they sacrifice some of the shape in order to keep the weight,” he told Reuters. “This is a perfectly symmetrical pear-shape form and… one of the rarest gems ever to be sold at auction.”
Gem Diamonds’ revenue in Q1 2022 (ending March 2022) has gone up 4% quarter-on-quarter and 19% year-on-year to $52.1 million, IDEX Online reports.
The miner, which owns 70% of the Letseng mine in Lesotho, sold 28,461 carats during the quarter – a rise when compared to the 24,790 carats it sold in the previous quarter. However, prices fell from $2,018 to $1,831, according to the report.
Clifford Elphick, Gem Diamonds’ CEO, said: “We remain confident about the outlook for diamond prices, particularly for Letseng’s large high-value diamonds with an average price of $1,831 per carat achieved during the period. Prices achieved on a like-for-like basis continued the largely upward trend from 2021.”
A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Officials said that the raw diamond would be auctioned and the proceeds would be given to the farmer after deduction of the government royalty and taxes.
Luck Shines On Madhya Pradesh Farmer As He Mines Almost 12 Carat Diamond The Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
Panna, Madhya Pradesh: A farmer in Madhya Pradesh had a great stroke of luck as he stumbled upon a 11.88 carat good quality diamond in a small, leased mine in Panna, famous for diamond mines. The small-time farmer, Pratap Singh Yadav, who also works as a labourer, found this diamond from a mine in Patti area in the district, diamond officer Ravi Patel told reporters on Wednesday.
This good quality diamond will be put up for sale in the upcoming auction and the price will be fixed as per the government guidelines.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yadav said, “I am a poor man with a small agricultural land. I also work as a labourer. I have been working hard in this mine for the past three months and got this diamond and deposited it to the Diamond Office.” The money received from the auction of this diamond will be used for setting up a business and to fund the education of his children.
According to private estimates, the diamond may fetch more than ₹ 50 lakh at the auction.
Officials said that the raw diamond would be auctioned and the proceeds would be given to the farmer after deduction of the government royalty and taxes.
Panna district is estimated to have diamond reserves of 12 lakh carats.
A record blue diamond co-owned by De Beers far outstripped its presale estimate in a stand-alone sale at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, garnering HKD 450.9 million ($57.5 million), the auction house said Wednesday.
The 15.10-carat De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond
The step-cut, 15.10-carat, fancy-vivid-blue, internally flawless stone, called the De Beers Cullinan Blue, is the largest of its color to appear at auction. The stone, which sold to an unnamed buyer, had been expected to fetch up to $48 million.
Petra Diamonds discovered the 39.35-carat rough in April 2021 at its Cullinan mine in South Africa. In July, De Beers and Diacore bought the stone for $40.2 million, and Diacore manufactured the piece into the final polished.
39.35 carat rough blue diamond
To date, only five blue diamonds weighing more than 10 carats have come to auction, none of which has exceeded 15 carats, Sotheby’s explained. Similar blue diamonds have also fetched high prices, including the Blue Moon of Josephine, a cushion-shaped, 12.03-carat, fancy-vivid-blue, internally flawless diamond that sold for $48.5 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2015. Meanwhile, the Oppenheimer Blue, a step-cut, 14.62-carat, fancy-vivid-blue, VVS1-clarity stone, garnered $57.5 million at a Christie’s Geneva sale in 2016.
De Beers is to start diamond exploration in Angola later this year after signing two mineral investment contracts with the Angolan government but the secretive group is giving little away on the details of the agreements.
De Beers announced today that the two licences covering prospects in the north-east of the country are for the “award and exercise of mineral rights covering all stages of diamond resource development from exploration to mining and span a period of 35 years.”
But the group does not specify its shareholding in the new developments which are joint ventures with Endiama – the Angolan government’s state-owned diamond company.
In a statement De Beers said only that “De Beers Group will hold a substantial majority in the new companies, with Endiama having the ability to incrementally increase its equity share over time in line with certain conditions outlined in the shareholder agreements, albeit with De Beers Group maintaining a substantial majority.”
By contrast, when Rio Tinto announced it was returning to Angola in October last year it specified that it would hold a 75% stake in the first phase of any mine developed with Endiama holding 25% but that the contract left open the possibility of Endiama increasing its holding to 49%.
De Beers’ return to Angola represents a breakthrough for the country following the regulatory and policy changes made by the government of President Joao Lourenco who replaced former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos in 2017.
Angola is arguably the most prospective country in the world in which to look for a major new diamond deposit but De Beers and most other diamond explorers left the country in the early 2000’s.
That was because of the repressive business conditions imposed by Dos Santos. These included a ban on any foreign company owning a majority interest in the diamond projects it was developing.
De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver commented that, “Angola has worked hard in recent years to create a stable and attractive investment environment and we are pleased to be returning to active exploration in the country.
“Angola remains highly prospective and we look forward to being part of this next stage in the development of Angola’s diamond sector.”
