Africa-focused miner Gem Diamonds has unearthed a 145.55 carat, Type II white diamond at its prolific Letsěng mine in Lesotho.
The diamond, recovered on August 3rd, is the ninth greater than 100-carat precious stone recovered this year at the operation, the company said.
Type IIa diamonds are the most valued and collectable precious gemstones, as they contain either very little or no nitrogen atoms in their crystal structure. Boart diamonds are stones of low quality that are used in powder form as an abrasive.
The Type II, white diamond is the ninth greater than 100-carat precious stone recovered this year at the Letsěng mine.
The Letšeng mine is one of the world’s ten largest diamond operations by revenue. At 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, it is also one of the world’s most elevated diamond mines.
Diamond miners are going through a rough patch as US and Chinese demand for diamond jewellery continues to be weak and the popularity of cheaper laboratory grown diamonds continues to rise.
In 2015, man-made diamonds had barely made an appearance as a competitor to natural diamonds. By last year, these stones accounted for more than 10% of the global diamond jewelry market, according to industry specialist Paul Zimnisky.
The market values of small to medium diamond mining companies, including Canada’s Lucara, South Africa’s Petra, and Gem Diamonds itself, are around $100 million or less. This is only about a third or a fourth of the price the large stones they aim to find may be worth.
The news comes as competitor Petra Diamonds postponed the sale of rough stones mined at its South African operations that would have been offered during the August/September event of the year, amid low demand.
The 118.74 carats diamond recovered in late April.
Africa-focused miner Gem Diamonds (LON: GEMD) has unearthed a new major Type II white diamond at its prolific Letšeng mine in Lesotho, barely six days after the previous find.
The 118.74-carat diamond is the fifth greater than 100-carat precious stone recovered this year at the operation, the company said.
Type IIa diamonds are the most valued and collectable precious gemstones, as they contain either very little or no nitrogen atoms in their crystal structure. Boart diamonds are stones of low quality that are used in powder form as an abrasive.
The prolific Letšeng mine is one of the world’s ten largest diamond operations by revenue. At 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, it is also one of the world’s most elevated diamond mines.
Diamond miners are going through a rough patch as US and Chinese demand for diamond jewellery continues to be weak and the popularity of cheaper laboratory grown diamonds continues to rise.
In 2015, man-made diamonds had barely made an appearance as a competitor to natural diamonds. By last year, these stones accounted for more than 10% of the global diamond jewelry market, according to industry specialist Paul Zimnisky.
The market values of small to medium diamond mining companies, including Canada’s Lucara (TSX: LUC), South Africa’s Petra (LON: PDL), and Gem Diamonds itself, are around $100 million or less. This is only about a third or a fourth of the price the large stones they aim to find may be worth.
Gem Diamonds saw revenue and average per carat prices down by around a quarter during 2023 amid ongoing “downward pressure” in the rough market.
The UK-based miner operates Letseng, in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.
It says total sales for the year were $139.4m, down 26 per cent, and the average per carat price was down 24 per cent to $1,334.
The highest price it achieved during the year was $33,745 per carat for a 117.09 carat white diamond which sold for $4m. It also sold six $1m-plus diamonds for a total of $13.8m.
Revenue for Q4 was $36.4m, up 14 per cent on Q3, according to its Q4 2023 Trading Update published on 1 February). Gem says it recovered 32,142 carats in Q4, up 16 per cent on Q3.
Recoveries of large diamonds in 2023 were similar to 2022, but below the mine’s average since 2008. The decrease in prices achieved in 2023 negatively impacted overall revenue achieved during the year.
Letseng is 70 per cent owned by Gem and 30 per cent by the Lesotho government.
Lucapa reported a slight increase in total rough sales for FY2023 in what it described as a solid performance.
The Australian miner announced revenues of $102.2m, up by 1 per cent on the previous year.
Q4 earnings from its two mines – Lulo in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho – slipped by 1 per cent to $40.8m.
During the year Lucapa sold 11 diamonds from Lulo that fetched a total of $32.7m at two Q4 tenders in Q4. It also recovered two Type IIa diamonds from Lulo, a 208-ct and a 235-ct, the second largest recovery since commercial operations started in 2015.
“Both mines delivered a solid performance against processing and production targets in Q4 and we are pleased with the full year results which saw group guidance achieved,” said managing director Nick Selby.
Mothae performed well despite experiencing a lower dollar per carat average in Q4, which impacted its overall diamond price for the year. Lulo had a good run which saw its high-value recoveries attract firm prices at tender.”
Lulo recovered fewer carats than forecast (30,585) but achieved an average $2,700 per carat, well up on the forecast of $2,300. Mothae recovered more carats that forecast but saw average price per carat down from guidance of $1,000 to an actual $775.
Lucapa said in its ASX announcement that the overall diamond price index began to trend upwards towards the end of 2023, because of India’s two-month moratorium and EU sanctions on Russian goods. “Tightening economic conditions imposed by central banks and a surge in inflation continues to impact discretionary spending on items such as diamond jewellery,” it said.
“However according to media reports at the end of 2023, there are signs the US market is recovering, however the Chinese market remains slow.”
Lucapa holds a 40 per cent stake in Lulo. The remainder is owned by Angola’s national diamond company Endiama (32 per cent) and by private Angolan company Rosas & Petalas (28 per cent). Lucapa holds a 70 per cent stake in Mothae. The government of Lesotho holds the remaining 30 per cent.
Gem Diamonds has unearthed a 101.96-carat rough from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, its second stone over 100 carats so far this year.
The miner discovered the gem-quality, type IIa diamond on September 28, it said Wednesday. The find follows that of a 122-carat stone on March 5.
While Letšeng had previously been known for producing high-quality rough diamonds topping the 100-carat mark, that supply has been declining. Last year, the miner retrieved only four diamonds of that magnitude, versus six in 2021 and 16 in 2020.
The lack of special-size stones has hurt the company’s revenue, with sales falling 28% year on year to $71.8 million in the first six months of 2023. The miner incurred a loss of $1 million, compared to a profit of $3.8 million during the same period in 2022.
The Baselworld fair has received much criticism in recent years, but one of the final shows before its public implosion appears to have facilitated a diamond deal that counts among the biggest in history.
Antwerp-based manufacturers Taché and Samir Gems came to the March 2018 exhibition with the exquisite Lesotho Legend, a 910-carat, type IIa diamond they had bought together from Gem Diamonds for $40 million earlier that month. At the time, jewelers such as Graff and Harry Winston dominated the big-stone market. Displaying the massive rough at the prestigious Swiss event could help drum up broader interest in the category, Taché and Samir believed.
“We felt that the market was a bit saturated between one or two players,” says Jean-Jacques Taché, managing director for sales at Taché, from his office in Tel Aviv, Israel. “So we thought, let’s bring it to Basel, let’s…showcase the [rough], and let’s see the reactions.”
Plenty of visitors wanted selfies with the stone, which came from the famous Letšeng mine in Lesotho. Some suggested buying a sliver of the piece — polished of, say, 5 to 20 carats, Taché recalls. However, “none of them were really committed at that point to enter into a venture.”
The exception was Van Cleef & Arpels, a Richemont-owned luxury brand that, Taché explains, had been somewhat pulling back from big stones in recent years.
“From the minute they saw it, [Van Cleef] started to talk about the idea that they had,” the executive adds. The timing was perfect: The luxury brand had just finished a ruby collection and was seeking a new project on which to spend a few years. “Sometimes you need a lot of things to happen at the same time in order to make it a success.”
The buying executive representing Van Cleef needed approval from Nicolas Bos, the brand’s CEO, and the Richemont team. Not long after the event, Taché, Samir and Van Cleef signed an agreement calling for the jeweler to buy the final polished. The condition was that the finished goods met the French house’s high quality criteria.
Long wait
Only this month did Van Cleef reveal the finished jewelry, more than four years after the initial pitch. The result was a unique collection of 25 Mystery Set jewels featuring 67 D-flawless diamonds. The largest is an oval, 79.35-carat stone that takes pride of place in a necklace called Atours Mystérieux, meaning “mysterious attire.” The smallest is 0.29 carats. The parties have not disclosed the polished sale price.
Taché and Samir both took heavy risks by splurging on the rough back in 2018. (Gem Diamonds publicly named Samir as the buyer: As is often the case, a miner only invoices one entity, but the purchase was really a 50:50 partnership.)
The two companies have a long-standing collaboration, having also bought the 341.9-carat Queen of Kalahari together from Lucara Diamond Corp. a few years earlier. They sold that polished to Chopard. Samir has its expertise in purchasing large rough stones; Taché specializes more in relationships with the top jewelry brands.
“We’re the most successful Jewish-Indian partnership on the market, by far,” says Taché.
They outsourced the cutting and polishing to Diamcad, an Antwerp firm that also manufactured the Lesedi La Rona for Graff. The goods went for grading at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in New York, where all the stones received Diamond Origin Reports stating that they were from the Lesotho Legend.
Van Cleef took delivery of the polished as each stone was ready between January 2019 and March 2020, Taché notes. However, Covid-19 delayed the launch, as Van Cleef had been hoping to hold roadshows.
; Jean-Jacques Taché and Anjal Bhansali
Quality over size
The manufacturers agreed to include Van Cleef throughout the process, including in the planning and design. The Taché and Samir teams even traveled with Van Cleef’s Bos to Lesotho in May 2019 to experience the Letšeng mine and learn about the local community there.
The brand would accept only flawless goods, so quality became a higher priority than size. The planning process, which took about seven months in 2018, saw the parties review around 180 possible combinations of outcomes. None of them included any “monster” stones, they note.
“Instead of 67 stones, you could also have a model with probably 12 pieces only, but [it would have been] much less interesting in terms of creation,” Taché continues.
There were other complicating factors. Van Cleef tends to avoid round and heart-shaped diamonds. It also wanted matching pairs: “Practically every stone in this collection between 10 and 30 carats is a couple,” he points out.
“If we went for something which was 100-carats-plus, we would have had to go into the VS range,” comments Antwerp-based Anjal Bhansali, managing director at Samir. The team even broke up a stone of roughly 75 carats into two matching stones weighing around 30 carats each, Bhansali reveals.
Boost for big stones
The manufacturers hope the collection will succeed in reinvigorating the large-diamond sector, expanding it beyond the traditional two giants.
“The goal is to create more awareness for big stones in the market and to bring in new players,” Taché concludes. “We started it with Chopard. We [are continuing] this now with Van Cleef.”
It’s unclear whether the Basel show will ever return. However, everyone involved in the Lesotho Legend project will agree that the 2018 edition was well worth it.
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.
A 21.86 carat natural pink diamond named “The Pink Palesa” will be sold by the Bonas Group in Antwerp in July.
Credit: Namakwa Diamonds
The pink gem was discovered on May 18 at the Kao mine in Lesotho one of the few sources of pink diamonds in the world following the closure of the iconic Argyle mine last year. Argyle provided about 90% of the world’s pink gems. Kao is operated and owned by Namakwa through its subsidiary, Storm Mountain Diamonds.
According to the report, Kao has yielded several pink diamonds in the last few years: The 25.97 carat Pink Dawn (2021), the 36.06-carat Pink Storm sold in 2014, the 3.06 carat Purple Princess (2017) and the 29.59 carat Rose of Kao (2018).
