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Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov is stepping down from the position, a Russian news outlet reported.
The executive has decided to resign before the termination of his contract, according to a Google-translated version of an RBC article. He might move into a role at Volga Group, which controls gas and petrochemicals assets, the report added, citing an unnamed source.
An Alrosa spokesperson declined to comment to Rapaport News on Sunday.
Ivanov joined the Russian diamond miner in the top job in 2017, succeeding Andrey Zharkov. Earlier this year, the US named Ivanov as a sanctioned person following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rio Tinto has forecast a sharp drop in rough-diamond output for next year as the Diavik mine edges closer to depletion.
The company expects to produce between 3 million and 3.8 million carats from the Canadian deposit in 2023, it reported at an investor seminar Wednesday. That compares with a plan of 4.5 million to 5 million carats for this year.
The decrease is a result of the exhaustion of rough supply from some of Diavik’s major mining areas, a Rio Tinto spokesperson told Rapaport News. The mine, which employs 1,100 workers, is set to close in 2025.
“We’ve completed mining at the A21 pipe, which was the latest pipe opened in 2018,” the spokesperson explained. “We’re finishing surface mining, and also one of the underground parts of the mine is done, so this is part of the plan changes. There are four areas we are mining at the moment, and next year there will be two.”
Diavik, of which Rio Tinto is the sole owner, is currently the miner’s only operational diamond site. The company’s Argyle deposit, known for its fancy-pink diamonds, closed in November 2020. Meanwhile, an exploration partnership with Star Diamond is on hold as Rio Tinto considers an exit from the project.
Jefferson Ncube, an illegal diamond miner from Zimbabwe, works on his latest tunnel at an abandoned De Beers mine near Kleinzee, South Africa.
Bracing against the vibrations of the jackhammer, illicit diamond miner Jefferson Ncube bores steadily into the rock face before him, sending chunks of dry stone clattering to the ground and filling the air with a cloud of pale gray dust. He’s 30 feet below the surface of the desert in the Namaqualand region of South Africa in a tunnel barely tall enough to crawl through.
“I don’t enjoy this at all, but I need the money,” says Ncube, who holds a degree in agricultural science from the University of Pretoria but says he has been unable to find work elsewhere. “I have a family to support, a wife and a 1-year-old child.”
The Nuttabooimine, near the coastal town of Kleinzee, was once mined by the diamond giant, De Beers, the largest of dozens of industrial mining operators who, for the best part of a century, formed the backbone of the region’s economy.
A diamond miner hauls up a bucket of gravel at an illegal mining site in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.
But over the past 20 years, rising operational costs and a dwindling supply of diamonds have made large-scale industrial mining increasingly unviable. The sector’s steady decline has left a legacy of chronic unemployment in Namaqualand but has also created opportunities for a growing number of desperate young men and women willing to tolerate hardships and dangers as they eke out a living in abandoned mines.
Known locally as “zama-zamas” — loosely, “ones who try their luck” in isiZulu — unlicensed miners like Ncube are considered illegal by the government. Yet here on South Africa’s wild and diamond-rich Atlantic coast, residents say the number of zama-zamas has burgeoned in recent years, fueled by the lack of jobs, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living, as well as by political and economic crises in neighboring countries.
An ilegal diamond miner breaks up rocks at the Nuttabooi mine near Kleinzee, South Africa.
Earlier this year, South Africa’s minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, described illegal mining as a “plague” amid reports of rampant corruption, extortion and violence linked to zama-zama activity across the country, not only in relation to diamonds but also coal, and other minerals such as gold and chromite. Once confined largely to the country’s estimated 6,100 abandoned or ownerless mines, officials say illegal mining is increasingly spilling over into operational mines too.
Ncube is part of a 12-man team, all of them migrants from Zimbabwe, where hyperinflation and unemployment have made it all but impossible to build a stable life for their families. Out in the desert, living conditions are bleak and working conditions even worse, but with some basic tools and a little knowledge of geology, they manage to make ends meet. The men, almost all of whom have arrived in the past two years, share the work and split whatever profits they make.
Members of an illegal diamond mining collective look down a mineshaft at the Nuttabooi mine.
“We dig down until we hit the bedrock, then we go sideways through this belt,” says Ncube, pointing at a band of rock and gravel on the side wall of the tunnel. “This is where we find the diamonds. In the past, they used hammers and chisels. But if you use a jackhammer, you can take out more rock and then there are more diamonds for you.”
Danger in the tunnels
A zama-zama uses a jackhammer to break up rock in an abandoned De Beers mine.
The miners have little in the way of safety equipment, and their tunnels are prone to collapsing. A little more than half a mile from here, at the neighboring Bontekoe mine, a simple granite plaque in the desert commemorates the miners who lost their lives in a particularly deadly collapse in 2012. Smaller accidents occur frequently and often go unreported. Community leaders say that at least six people have died at Nuttabooi alone in the past few months.
To try to stay safe, Ncube and his colleagues make a point of leaving “pillars” at 6-foot intervals as they tunnel through the ground. But it’s an imperfect system, made harder by the fact that tunnels dug by different groups of miners often collide.
An illegal diamond miner looks out from the top of a De Beers mine that has since been taken over by zama-zamas.
“If the hole is ‘paying,’ people get greedy and they eat away at the pillars until the whole thing is just hanging,” says Ncube. “That’s how some guys died just two holes away from here. If you get greedy you’ll die down here, and then your family will suffer even more.”
After handing over to a colleague, Ncube climbs carefully back up the vertical mine shaft and hauls himself over the edge. At the surface, in a stark, lunar landscape of craters and piles of rubble, zama-zamas cluster together around their holes, sifting through gravel and chatting over the low hum of diesel generators. A few hundred yards away, the old De Beers mine lies abandoned, a massive scar on the face of the desert, hemmed in by towering mine dumps.
“De Beers has taken all the diamonds out of Namaqualand and now we’re back in poverty,” says Andrew Cloete, a longtime illicit miner who lives in a small tent of black and red plastic sheeting in the ever-expanding squatter camp below the Nuttabooi mine. “The companies left us like they found us — with nothing. But if we just sit there thinking about it, our kids will die. So we, the diggers, come in here and take the scraps.”
Andrew Cloete, a diamond miner and activist for mining rights, photographed in his shack in a squatter camp at the Nuttabooi mine in Namaqualand, South Africa. The government considers the activity at Nuttabooi illegal because the miners do not possess permits.
The plight of the zama-zamas
There is a palpable sense of anger, particularly among the miners who grew up in Namaqualand, over how little of the region’s diamond wealth has stayed in the local area. Over several decades, vast quantities of diamonds have been exported overseas, yet most of the area’s roads are still unpaved, service provision is haphazard at best and poverty and alcoholism are endemic. Unemployment in the province stands at over 46%.
“Africa’s f***ed up. We don’t have jobs, all we have is minerals — but they’re being looted by the West,” said one miner, an unemployed mechanical engineer who didn’t want to be named, citing concerns that he may be targeted by the authorities. “This is our Africa. This is our land. These are our minerals.”
Zama-zamas have little bargaining power and are forced to sell their finds to black-market buyers for a fraction of their true value.
Outside Cloete’s tent, men wander through a small city of plastic lean-tos that has sprung up in the desert over the past two years. The camp has enveloped a handful of derelict buildings left behind by the mining companies, where zama-zamas now sleep side by side on filthy mattresses on the floor. The camp, home to around 1,500 people, has no electricity, running water, clinics or sanitation but a surplus of bars and taverns that do a steady round-the-clock trade.
“Nobody would live in conditions like this if there wasn’t a need,” says Cloete, gesturing toward the scene outside. “We’re here because of poverty, hunger and joblessness.”
They’re not getting rich off their diamonds
Diamond miners at an illegal dig site in Namaqualand, South Africa.
After lighting a cigarette, Cloete reaches for a small glass jar and takes out a plastic packet from inside. Carefully, he empties its contents into his palm. About a dozen small, rough diamonds tumble out. On international markets they might fetch a substantial sum, he says, but due to the illegal nature of their work, the zama-zamas have little bargaining power and are forced to sell their finds to black-market buyers for a fraction of their true value.
“They buy diamonds like they’re buying sweets,” complained one zama-zama. “You get people buying diamonds for 100 Rand [about $5.50].”
Cloete, who founded an informal group of mineral rights activists known as the “Mining Fighters,” has spent years petitioning the South African government to find a productive way to formalize zama-zama mining, a move that he says would lead to safer working conditions and a fairer marketplace for local diamonds, as well as bringing in considerable revenue for the government. Similar systems are in place in many other African countries, where so-called artisanal mining, carried out by individuals or small groups using traditional methods and basic equipment, is now a major employer and revenue generator.
A swimming pool lies empty in the town of Kleinzee in the Namaqualand region of South Africa.
The town was once the property of the De Beers diamond company. In its heyday, it was a thriving settlement of 4,000 people with about 30 recreational clubs. After closing down its mines in the region, De Beers sold off the town, which is now largely empty.
But Cloete says he has yet to receive a response. “They treat us like we’re criminals,” he says.
Many in the formal diamond sector would also like to see the legalization and regulation of informal mining, which they say hampers their legal operations and fuels a parallel black market in illegal diamonds.
“At the end of the day, it’s a situation that’s totally unbearable for us,” said Gert Van Niekerk, chairman of the South African Diamond Producers Organisation, an industry body representing legal diamond miners. “This is not the Wild West.”
Kim Cupito
Kim Cupito, who lives with her husband in a derelict building left behind by De Beers, lost her job during the pandemic. “We need to survive, and this is God’s ground. It’s for everybody,” she says.
In Kleinzee, a faded mining town once owned by De Beers, where most homes now lie empty, residents say the influx of illegal miners from around South Africa and neighboring countries has led to a rise in crime.
The uncertain future faced by zama-zamas
“Zama-zamas aren’t welcome here,” said one Kleinzee restaurateur. “They have knives, they have guns, they’re gangsters. They can come and buy things here, but afterward they must leave. We don’t want them here.”
Illegal diamond miners try to get phone reception at a mining site in Namaqualand, South Africa.
In a policy document released in March, South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced its intention to create a new police unit dedicated to combating illegal mining. It also laid out plans to make it easier for artisanal and small-scale miners to legally acquire mining rights by streamlining the expensive and time-consuming process of applying for a permit.
Police raids are frequent. In one major operation in July, a combined force of police and other law enforcement bodies backed by two helicopters and a spotter plane raided the Nuttabooi site, arresting over 100 people and confiscating 130 generators and 121 jackhammers, along with other equipment. But within days, mining activity had resumed.
But creating new legislation to support the policies could take time. And critics say it’s unrealistic to hope that many zama-zamas will voluntarily cease their activities, undergo training, comply with regulations and start paying taxes and royalties to the government, especially given that many are in the country illegally and would not be eligible for mining permits.
In the meantime, Namaqualand’s zama-zamas don’t intend to wait around.
“There’s nothing for us out there,” said Kim Cupito, a former fruit trader who lost her job during the pandemic and now lives with her husband in a derelict De Beers building with gravel piled up in the hallways and gaping holes in the roof. “We need to survive, and this is God’s ground. It’s for everybody.”
A 13.15 carat pink diamond will no longer be available at the upcoming Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in New York.
The emerald-cut, fancy vivid pink, VVS1 clarity stone, which carried a price estimate of $25 million to $35 million, was poised to be the December 6 sale’s showcase piece. Christie’s described the diamond as one of the largest of its kind to appear at auction.
“Christie’s confirms that the fancy vivid pink diamond ring has been withdrawn from sale in New York on December 6,” a spokesperson said. The company declined to comment further or provide a reason.
The item was scheduled to appear on display in Hong Kong on Friday. The removal was “very surprising,” said one colored diamond dealer in the municipality.
Colored diamonds have had a mixed season at auction. On November 8, the 18.18-carat Fortune Pink fetched CHF 28.4 million ($28.9 million) at Christie’s Geneva, toward the lower end of its presale estimate. The following day, a 5.53 carat diamond from the De Beers Exceptional Blue Collection failed to find a buyer at a Sotheby’s auction in the Swiss city.
With the 13.15 carat pink off the list, the top remaining item at the Magnificent Jewels sale is a pear modified brilliant cut, 31.62 carat, fancy blue diamond pendant with a price estimate of $10 million to $15 million.
The House of Gübelin has introduced a digital exchange that enables buyers and sellers to connect directly to trade responsibly sourced gemstones.
The project, Provenance Proof Marketplace, is an extension of the blockchain digital ledger for colored gemstones the Swiss-based company launched in 2018 in partnership with Everledger. It is the first platform in the industry for transparently traded gems, Gübelin claimed Monday.
Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainability and transparency in the jewelry they purchase, Gübelin explained. However, it has become challenging for designers to find responsibly sourced gems, it added.
“The Provenance Proof Marketplace is a further milestone, allowing more transparency in the jewelry and gemstone industry,” said Raphael Gübelin, president of the House of Gübelin. “The online marketplace simplifies both access as well as sales of transparently traded gemstones.”
Harakh Mehta created a three-piece, 150-carat diamond set to celebrate the store’s big anniversary.
New York City has many icons, like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. And Bloomingdale’s, the department store that opened shop in 1872 and this year is marking its 150th anniversary.
“To celebrate, we desired to create iconic pieces that paid homage to our rich history,” Marissa Galante Frank, the store’s fashion director of accessories and beauty, wrote in an email. “For the first time ever, we created a jewelry suite that is comprised of 150 carats of diamonds” — to echo the store’s 150 years in business.
The retailer turned to the jeweler Harakh Mehta to create the three-piece set. The designer “first caught our attention when he was named the exclusive diamantaire for the 2019 Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris,” Ms. Galante Frank wrote, referring to organizers of the French event tapping Mr. Mehta for his skills as a diamond specialist.
Mr. Mehta, whose Harakh line already had a presence in several Bloomingdale’s locations throughout the United States, said he agreed immediately. “When they announced they were celebrating their 150th anniversary, we knew that we just had to be part of their joyous occasion,” the Indian jeweler said in an email, noting that in his native language Gujarati, his name means joy.
The designs for the earrings, bracelet and necklace were “inspired by my childhood memories of driving up the hills during the monsoons and bathing in the waterfalls,” Mr. Mehta wrote before describing each piece.
The earrings, which total 18 carats, were designed as dangling clusters of brilliant-cut round, pear- and marquise-shaped diamonds, interspersed with Harakh’s signature rose-cut round and pear-shaped stones. “They are set in specially created modulated settings to represent the energy and flow of the cascading water,” Mr. Mehta wrote.
The 32-carat bracelet had two straps of diamonds holding a central oval cluster set with brilliant-cut round, oval- and pear-shaped stones, interspersed with rose-cut gems in various shapes. And completing the trio was a V-shaped necklace, which has the same combination of brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds in rounds, pears, marquises and ovals, totaling 100 carats.
Bloomingdale’s
To make the jewelry weigh as little as possible, Mr. Mehta wrote, the diamonds were set in an 18-karat mix of white gold and a palladium-based alloy.
Finding the right diamonds wasn’t easy, the jeweler wrote: “The search for these 150 carats quite literally traversed six continents over nearly 12 months.”
In a later email he wrote: “There are certified Canadian diamonds. Also, there are diamonds in special shapes, cut and polished from rough diamonds sourced from the mines of Brazil, Africa and Australia. There are also other diamonds that were bought from the bourses of Antwerp, Mumbai and New York, which we recut.”
The suite has been displayed at various Bloomingdale’s stores, and is now available for sale as a set or as individual pieces. The high jewelry department at the retailer’s 59th Street flagship in New York has information on prices.
The project was all worth the effort, Ms. Galante Frank wrote: “Diamonds signify the longevity and brilliance of our brand. Diamonds are forever.”
Burgundy Diamond Mines managing director Peter Ravenscroft has resigned from the Australian company with immediate effect.
The board has appointed Kim Truter, who became nonexecutive chairman of the miner in December 2021, as interim CEO, Burgundy said last week.
Truter has over 30 years of experience in the alluvial and underground mining sector. He has also held executive positions at De Beers in Canada and with Rio Tinto’s diamond unit in Australia.
Meanwhile, Michael O’Keefe, who has been a nonexecutive director since 2017, will take over as executive chairman. He is the former CEO and current executive chairman of Champion Iron, which operates an iron-ore project in Canada. Burgundy has not announced whether it is looking for a long-term successor for Ravenscroft.
Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has sold seven diamonds from its Lulo mine in Angola for $30.1 million, equating to over $39,000 per carat.
The company and its partners, Endiama E.P. and Rosas & Petalas, placed the “special sized” diamonds on international tender earlier this month. Together, the diamonds weighed a combined 767 carats.
The sold diamonds include a 170-carat fancy-coloured diamond dubbed the ‘Lulo Rose’ alongside three white Type IIa diamonds of over 100 carats and three other special-sized white Type IIa stones.
In late September, Lucapa announced it had recovered its 30th diamond of over 100 carats from Lulo, which has been in commercial production since 2015.
The company kicked off commercial production from its Mothae mine in Lesotho in 2019.
Meanwhile, Lucapa said it was continuing to explore for potential primary-source kimberlites or lamproites with its partners across the Lulo concession in Angola, the Brooking project in Australia, and the Orapa Area F project in Botswana.
Brilliant Earth lowered its outlook ahead of the crucial fourth quarter, noting that consumers were hesitant about making purchases.
The online-focused jeweler expects full-year sales of $436 million to $446 million, down from an earlier forecast of $450 million to $470 million, it said Thursday. Fourth-quarter revenue will be between $116 million and $126 million, compared with actual sales of $121.9 million a year earlier. The US company’s shares fell 26% Thursday following the news.
“While we’re pleased that we have continued to drive sustainable, profitable growth, as we look to finish the year, macro headwinds and the anticipated promotional environment are more difficult than earlier in the year, causing us to be more cautious about our fourth-quarter revenue outlook,” CEO Beth Gerstein said on an investor call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “While we are still seeing strong consumer interest demonstrating the resonance of our brand, we are seeing a further lengthening of the decision-making process given the macroeconomic uncertainty as more customers take a wait-and-see approach.”
The adjustment came even as third-quarter sales rose 17% year on year to $111.4 million, reflecting the brand’s increased success among millennials and Gen Z-ers, the retailer reported. The company ratcheted up its use of TikTok after a study found that 13% of its customers learned about Brilliant Earth on that social platform; this led to a viewership increase on the site of more than 200%, management said. Group net profit jumped 44% to $5.7 million.
