Rough Diamonds – Page 37 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Threat of synthetics is an opportunity for diamond traceability

The Namibia Desert Diamonds General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Lelly Usiku, said the threat of synthetic diamonds has brought about an opportunity in the diamond industry to focus on the traceability of the precious stones to verify diamond origins from the mines to jewellery.

Usiku expressed these sentiments during a panel discussion on the diamond industry and its associated value chains. She further outlined that Covid-19 forced Namdia to investigate the possibilities of online trading in order to replicate the physical viewing with a virtual viewing experience.

Chief Executive Officer of Namdia, Kennedy Hamutenya, said in protecting the image of diamonds, the industry made a commitment in 2008 on the number of producers and manufacturers through the Kimberly Process. He said the process helped squeeze out undesirable elements from the diamond business.

According to Hamutenya, trading partnered states agreed to create a menu for the world and buyers that ensured diamonds on the market would not be associated with conflict diamonds. Conflict diamonds are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army’s war efforts, or warlord activities.
“So, we said every country must implement systems and procedures from the very starting point of mining to the point of export to ensure that there is no penetration of conflict diamonds.

Today, as we speak, 99.8% of all our diamonds are clean, thanks to the Kimberly Process. We have done everything possible to prevent conflict diamonds to penetrate our pipeline,” Hamutenya stated.

According to him, Namdeb Holdings has spent N$3 billion on local procurement of goods and services for the last financial year.
Also, at the same occasion, Brent Eiseb, CEO of the Namibia Diamond Trading Company, elaborated on their mandate and said they sort and value diamonds. He noted that the process entails highly skilled employees as well as technology.
He added that whether diamond mining happens on land or offshore, the value is only confirmed when the stones go through NDTC’s evaluation process.

“This is an important process as it determines the value of royalties and taxes that is to be paid by producers to the government. Another mandate is to facilitate downstream diamond beneficiation.
We take about N$430 million in indexed diamonds and make them available for value addition in Namibia,” explained Eiseb.
He added that this process is vital because it requires quality infrastructure, especially in Namibia, for cutting and polishing of diamonds and also for creating the most job opportunities.

Eiseb concluded that the diamond industry is important in providing for the country at large through development diamonds. He indicated that 85% of total revenue that is created through the sales of diamonds ends up in state coffers through royalties, taxes, and levies that are payable and dividends.

Source: neweralive

De Beers sales hint diamond market has bottomed out

De Beers thinks the recovery is at an early stage and that it will take some time to get back to pre-pandemic levels of demand. (Image courtesy of De Beers Group.)
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer by value, revealed on Friday it made about three times as much in sales of roughs in the seventh sales cycle of the year as it did in the previous event.

The Anglo American unit, which sells diamonds to a handpicked group of about 80 buyers 10 times a year at events called sights, sold $320 million worth of rough diamonds in the seventh cycle. That compares to the $116 million fetched in the previous sight and is not far behind the $400 million De Beers sold on average each month last year.

The results, said BMO Analyst Edward Sterck, show the diamond market may have bottomed out and be on the slow road to recovery.

“Whilst the market has been defibrillated, we think it will remain in intensive care for some time, although any improvement is good news for the smaller pure play producers with weak balance sheets,” Sterck said in a note to investors.

De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver showed mild optimism, saying the recovery was at an early stage.

“The company, however, expects further market improvement as covid-19 restrictions continued to ease in various locations and manufacturers focus on meeting retail demand for polished diamonds,” Cleaver said in the statement.

The executive said that overall industry sentiment has become more positive as jewellers in the key markets, such as the US and China, gained confidence ahead of the important year-end holiday season.

Lower prices, more flexibility
De Beers has continued to implement a more flexible approach to sales during the sixth and seventh sales cycles of the year, as a result of restrictions triggered by the pandemic.

The usual week long sight holder events have been extended towards near-continuous sales.

It has also cut prices of its stones, sometimes by almost 10% for larger diamonds, in an effort to spark sales.

Before the price reduction, De Beers had made major concessions to their normal sales rules allowing customers to renege on contracts and view diamonds in alternative locations.

Along with Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond producer by output, it has also axed supply of roughs to the market, but built up their own stockpiles.

The diamond giant noted that despite ongoing efforts, it expected it would take “some time” to get back to pre-pandemic levels of demand.

Source: mining.com

Researchers use ‘superdeep’ diamonds to shed light on Earth’s inner workings

In a new study led by a University of Alberta PhD student, researchers used diamonds as breadcrumbs to provide insight into some of Earth’s deepest geologic mechanisms.

“Geologists have recently come to the realization that some of the largest, most valuable diamonds are from the deepest portions of our planet,” said Margo Regier, a PhD student in the Faculty of Science under the supervision of Graham Pearson and Thomas Stachel. “While we are not yet certain why diamonds can grow to larger sizes at these depths, we propose a model where these ‘superdeep’ diamonds crystallize from carbon-rich magmas, which may be critical for them to grow to their large sizes.”

Beyond their beauty and industrial applications, diamonds provide unique windows into the deep Earth, allowing scientists to examine the transport of carbon through the mantle.

“The vast majority of Earth’s carbon is actually stored in its silicate mantle, not in the atmosphere,” Regier explained. “If we are to fully understand Earth’s whole carbon cycle, we need to understand this vast reservoir of carbon deep underground.”

The study revealed that the carbon-rich oceanic crust that sinks into the deep mantle releases most of its carbon before it gets to the deepest portion of the mantle. That means most carbon is recycled back to the surface, and only small amounts are stored in the deep mantle—which has significant implications for how scientists understand the Earth’s carbon cycle.

The mechanism is important to understand for a number of reasons, Regier noted.

“The movement of carbon between the surface and mantle affects Earth’s climate, the composition of its atmosphere and the production of magma from volcanoes,” said Regier.

“We do not yet understand if this carbon cycle has changed over time, nor do we know how much carbon is stored in the deepest parts of our planet. If we want to understand why our planet has evolved into its habitable state today and how the surfaces and atmospheres of other planets may be shaped by their interior processes, we need to better understand these variables.”

The study was made possible through a collaboration between researchers at the U of A and the University of Glasgow, including Jeff Harris, who collected the diamond samples. Support through federal funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, through the Diamond Exploration Research Training School at the U of A, was also integral in enabling the research.

The study, “The Lithospheric to Lower Mantle Carbon Cycle Recorded in Superdeep Diamonds,” was published in Nature.

/University of Alberta Release. The material in this public release comes from the originating organization and may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. View in full here.
Tags:atmosphere, Canada, climate, council, Engineering, exploration, planet, production, research, research council, school, science, Scientists, Student, university, University of Alberta

Source: miragenews

Gem recovers high-quality 233 ct diamond at Letšeng

Gem Diamonds has recovered a high quality 233 ct Type II white diamond from its 70% owned Letšeng mine, in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.

This follows the recent recovery of a high quality 442 ct Type II diamond, one of the world’s largest gem quality diamonds to be recovered this year.

The company noted in a trading statement published in July that the mine had produced about 43 275 ct of diamonds in the first half of this year.

Source: miningweekly

Star Diamond recovers 2,409 diamonds in second bulk sample

Star Diamond Corp announced that a total A total of 2,409 diamonds weighing 123.27 carats have to date been recovered from the second bulk sample trench (19FALCT004) excavated on its Star kimberlite at the Fort à la Corne kimberlite field in central Saskatchewan.

These initial results are from the second of 10 bulk sample trenches excavated by 60% optionee Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc in 2019.

The average diamond grades from the first two trenches are similar to historical diamond grade results detected from the underground bulk sampling and large diameter drilling completed on the Star kimberlite between 2004 and 2009. These results are also similar to the overall weighted average grade 14 carats per hundred tonnes reported in Star Diamond’s PEA of the Star and Orion South kimberlites .

The three largest diamonds recovered to date from 19FALCT004 are 2.98, 2.03 and 1.99 carats, respectively, and were all recovered from Early Joli Fou kimberlite. The EJF is the dominant kimberlite unit within the project in terms of ore volume and diamond grade.

As disclosed by Star Diamond on August 4, 2020, there are indications that recent diamond breakage has occurred in the diamond parcels recovered thus far from RTEC’s trench cutter bulk sampling program, suggesting that the extraction and/or processing systems being used by RTEC may be resulting in diamond breakage. Comprehensive diamond breakage studies are required to assess the nature and extent of the diamond breakage resulting from RTEC’s methods and the possibility that larger diamonds would have been recovered absent such breakage.

Senior vice president of exploration and development, George Read, states: “The initial diamond results from 19FALCT004 and 19FALCT001 continue to show grades similar to the previous underground bulk sampling and LDD performed by Star Diamond on the Star kimberlite. Individual EJF kimberlite samples recovered in the first two trenches exhibit a range of grades 9.81 to 21.22 cpht for 19FALCT004 and 4.88 to 23.34 cpht for 19FALCT001, which are as expected for the EJF kimberlite.”

Source: resourceworld

A Crucial Moment for Artisanal Miners

The question of how to tackle the hardships facing informal diamond miners is as pressing today as it was when it first arose nearly 20 years ago.

It was first touted as an issue that perhaps the Kimberley Process (KP) could incorporate into its mission. But the KP was not equipped — or mandated — to meet the challenge, even if the sector represented an Achilles heel for a body tasked with facilitating the cross-border trade of responsibly sourced rough.

Instead, the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) formed, taking a developmental approach to advancing artisanal miners. Since its inception, the DDI’s goal has been to create an infrastructure that allows these miners to sell their diamonds through legitimate means, get a fair price for them, and make a sustainable living.

Operating primarily, though not exclusively, in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the organization’s work includes enabling community development; engaging with governments to formulate policies; organizing miners into cooperatives; providing professional training; and running initiatives to raise the diggers’ income, such as introducing them to new buyers.

Typically, the diggers work for less than $2 a day. With such low income, they’ve historically been incentivized to sell their diamonds on the black market, where the stones may be smuggled across the border, mixed with other goods, given a KP certificate and sold on the global market.

With an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million people working in the sector across 15 countries in Africa and three in South America, the DDI has spent much of its time registering miners in its systems and educating them on how they can benefit from working through its channels.

The organization achieved a significant milestone in April last year when it launched the Maendeleo Diamond Standards, a certification system designed to connect artisanal and small-scale diamond miners with responsible supply chains.

The standards include training on legal issues, community engagement, human rights, health and safety, ways to ensure violence-free operations, environmental management, interactions with large-scale mining, and navigating a site closure.

Clearly, given the scope of the artisanal mining sector, challenges remain. The DDI has had limited resources to pursue its goals and expand its reach.

In that context, the group announced in late July that it had merged with Resolve, a much larger non-government organization (NGO) engaged in addressing social, health and environmental issues. Being part of Resolve will give the DDI additional resources, such as administrative support for the work it wants to carry out, explained DDI founder and chairman Ian Smillie, who is joining Resolve’s board of advisers along with DDI vice chair Stephane Fischler. The group will be a division within Resolve and go by DDI@Resolve, with DDI executive director Ian Rowe at the helm.

The merger was born of the realization that the vast number of initiatives out there advocating for artisanal miners — not just in diamonds, but also in minerals such as gold, cobalt, tin, tantalum and tungsten — could lead to confusion. With NGOs, private companies, and government agencies all approaching donors and policy-makers to get support for their programs, the messaging could get muddled, Smillie explained. A pooling of resources would make for more efficient processes and a better outcome for the artisanal mining community.

Another example in July was De Beers’ GemFair program partnering with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and the Mano River Union — a cross-border association comprising Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and the Ivory Coast — to develop training in those four countries. Efforts like these have become especially important in the Covid-19 environment, where diamond demand has slumped to historic lows.

While the pandemic has halted activity in the DRC, Sierra Leone has been better able to manage due to its experience with the 2014 Ebola outbreak. But like the rest of the trade, artisanal miners need to think beyond Covid-19 and make sure the right systems are in place to facilitate sales when demand returns. That challenge is especially difficult for these miners, who rely on the DDI’s guidance to gain access to the global diamond market. Hopefully, Resolve will help broaden the DDI’s scope. And as activity scales up, it will be up to the greater jewelry industry to support this important part of the global diamond community.

Source: Diamonds.net

“Botswana Should Not Produce or Sell Synthetic Diamonds”

According to the official, synthetics will “compromise” the value of Botswana’s natural diamonds

Lucara 123 carat diamond — Lucara Diamonds

Mmetla Masire, permanent secretary at Botswana’s Ministry of Minerals, said in a Parliamentary Accounts Committee quoted by Rough & Polished that Botswana cannot engage in production and sale of synthetic diamonds as this will compromise “the value of our diamonds”. Credit: Debswana

The Letlhakane diamond mine in Botswana — De Beers mining

Masire said that “Botswana will send a confusing message to its customers should it decide to produce and sale synthetic diamonds”. He added that the Debswana Diamond Company (the joint venture between the government of Botswana and diamond miner De Beers) is searching for other markets other than the US to sell its diamonds, including in China. Credit: De Beers

Masire “refused to provide an update on the ongoing negotiations between Gaborone and De Beers as disclosure of any information pertaining to the negotiations will potentially influence the outcome”. Botswana and De Beers’ huge 10-year diamond sale agreement is expected to expire by the end of 2020. Botswana accounts for more than two-thirds of De Beers’ diamond production.

Source: israelidiamond

Petra Diamonds sells Botswana exploration assets

Petra Diamonds (PDL.L) has agreed to sell its Botswanan exploration assets to Botswana Diamonds (BODP.L) for $300,000 and a 5% royalty on future revenue, the diamond miner, which is in the process of restructuring, said on Monday.

The purchase price will be payable in two equal instalments on or before August 31, 2021 and August 31, 2022, Petra said. Botswana Diamonds has the option to buy out the royalty for $2 million in cash.

Petra’s subsidiary Sekaka Diamonds Exploration (Pty) Limited, which Botswana Diamonds would take over, holds three prospecting licences including the KX36 project, which has an indicated resource of 17.9 million tonnes at 35 carats per hundred tonnes.

Botswana Diamonds managing director James Campbell said KX36 would be the company’s most advanced project in southern Africa, and Sekaka’s exploration database would also be “hugely complementary” to its current activities.

Petra, which has been planning to sell Sekaka since June 2018, said the deal is separate to the sales process it announced last month as part of its restructuring.

“The first tranche of the purchase consideration is not expected to be received until August 2021, making the sale too long-dated to help with Petra’s immediate cash flow challenges,” said BMO analyst Edward Sterck.

The sale still requires approval from the Botswana Competition Commission, ministerial consent in Botswana, and approval from Petra’s lenders and debtholders.

Campbell said he hopes the deal will be sealed by August 31.

Lucara to Sell all High-Value Diamonds through HB Group

Lucara is to sell all its larger rough diamonds through the Antwerp-based HB Group in what it describes as a “groundbreaking partnership”.

The Canadian miner has a reputation for high-value type IIa diamonds at its Karowe Mine, in Botswana, and was proud to announce its discovery of the 1,758-carat Sewelo (pictured), the world’s second largest diamond, last April.

It has been stockpiling all +10.8 carats, which account for around 70 per cent of its output, since early March.

Now it has announced a unique, new supply arrangement, with purchase prices based on estimated polished outcome, with a true up paid on actual achieved polished sales thereafter, less a fee and the cost of manufacturing.

Lucara says it will benefit higher prices than it currently achieves at tender, regular cash flow, and a more efficient supply chain as well as tax benefits and beneficiation opportunities for the Botswana government.

Eira Thomas, CEO said: “Building on the partnership established for the manufacturing of the SewelÃ´ earlier this year, Lucara is pleased to have now secured a broader supply agreement with HB to purchase all of our +10.8 carat rough diamonds, through to year-end.

“It is our strong view that the success of our industry in these very uncertain times, requires better alignment between producers, manufacturers, and retailers to establish a healthier, more efficient global diamond supply chain.

We are excited to be working with HB to support this new paradigm.”

Source: IDEX

Buyers Snub De Beers and Alrosa over High Prices

De Beers and Alrosa continued to see rock-bottom sales in June as buyers rejected the miners’ high rough prices in favor of cheaper goods from smaller suppliers.

“[The major miners] want to hold on to prices, so people don’t see any [incentive] to buy because it’s difficult to sell and make money,” a sightholder told Rapaport News. “[Manufacturers and dealers] are already sitting on large inventories of polished and rough.”

The two largest producers have maintained their prices at pre-coronavirus levels, while other miners holding tenders in Antwerp have sold at prices 15% to 25% lower than in February, an Alrosa client observed. Even the smaller producers’ prices were inflated, he explained, as they were serving customers seeking specific items in small quantities.

If De Beers or Alrosa were to put their monthly allocations on the open market, they would fetch prices up to 30% below their current levels, the dealer estimated. “There is no appetite for rough, as factories [in India] have been operating on a very, very small capacity for a month,” he stressed.

“Sales of polished have not improved dramatically, and stocks are still there,” a sightholder added. “Factories have no reason to open, so why would we buy rough?”

De Beers held its June sight last week, with limited viewings in Antwerp instead of at the usual location in Gaborone, Botswana, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. The sight had an estimated value of around $40 million, according to a source with knowledge of the sale. De Beers hasn’t released sales data since its February sight, and is scheduled to publish its earnings for the first half of the year on July 30.

Alrosa also struggled to attract buyers to its latest trading session, which ended June 15, after reporting record low revenues in April and May. The Russian miner is due to publish its June data on July 10.

Kick-starting sales

Rough buyers have sensed an increased urgency for both De Beers and Alrosa to increase revenue, after the miners allowed 100% deferrals of purchase allocations during the coronavirus crisis. They introduced that flexibility to protect prices and avoid flooding the market with goods, but now customers are unwilling to resume buying unless value improves. Five Alrosa clients have already given up their statuses as Alrosa contract customers since March, perceiving pressure to make purchases.

To drum up interest, Alrosa is considering holding contract sales outside Moscow for its July session, with Antwerp the likely venue, and is weighing up whether to continue its deferrals policy.

“Being committed to the prudent sales policy, in subsequent trading sessions of the year we will use all available instruments to maintain supply-and-demand balance and help to normalize cutters’ level of inventories,” an Alrosa spokesperson said. De Beers declined to comment.

Most manufacturers in India have enough rough to keep their factories going until August, and are only buying if they have specific shortages, dealers explained. That has boosted sales at smaller miners that are in need of liquidity and have sold low volumes at reduced prices to cutters looking to fill limited inventory gaps.

The recent increase in Covid-19 cases in Surat has added to the predicament, dealers asserted. The Indian polishing industry hasn’t returned to consistent operations since the government allowed it to reopen last month, with several companies forced into temporary shutdowns following virus outbreaks.

“Most [Alrosa] clients have the same attitude as me — they don’t need the goods, and they’re not ready even to look at the goods at this price,” a dealer said.

Gradual release

However, deep and sudden discounts on rough could damage the entire market, sightholders acknowledged. As such, they only foresee De Beers and Alrosa reducing prices when the market recovers, which the buyers expect to happen in the fall, assuming retail stores and trading centers continue to reopen. Only then will the largest miners gradually release their stockpiles, dealers predicted.

“Let [the goods] come in very small quantities, so in the meantime overall inventory will slowly decline, the industry will generate money, and banks will feel comfortable,” a dealer argued. “We will start our business from September onward, when the Christmas season begins.”

Indeed, buyers will have to return to De Beers and Alrosa if they need more significant volumes when the market improves.

“Maybe by then we will have more of a balance of supply and demand, and maybe we’ll have more confidence to buy at certain prices that we don’t have now,” a sightholder said.

Source: Diamonds.net