Rough Diamonds – Page 38 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

UAE Authorities Arrest Traveler Smuggling Diamonds in his Gut

UAE authorities have arrested a man coming from Africa attempting to smuggle 297 grams of raw diamonds estimated at around $90,000 in his gut.

On Thursday, the Federal Customs Authority (FCA) said it received a tip-off about an African man who intends to bring the raw diamonds into the country by smuggling them through Sharjah International Airport.

The FCA, with the coordination of Sharjah’s Department of Sea Ports and Customs, took the necessary measures, and arrested the suspect as soon as he landed at Sharjah Airport. When he reached Sharjah Customs, his passport was confiscated and his bags were checked.

After carrying out an X-ray, officials discovered that the passenger had swallowed 297g of raw diamonds, which were worth around $90,000, the German News Agency reported. The diamonds were seized and the suspect was referred to the concerned authorities.

According to FCA, the suspect said he had visited the UAE on previous occasions but had never committed such a crime. But on this trip, he brought the illegal diamonds, which he purchased from the black market of an African country with the help of two other partners.

He also admitted that he intended to seek potential buyers in the UAE to purchase the diamonds without disclosing names.

Source: aawsat

De Beers Slashes Output Amid Diamond Glut

De Beers’ production dropped in the third quarter as the miner responded to a decline in rough demand that has left it with an inflated stockpile of diamonds.

Output fell 14% to 7.4 million carats for the period amid planned mine closures and the transition from open-pit to underground mining at its Venetia project in South Africa, parent company Anglo American said Tuesday.

“We continue to produce to weaker market demand due to macroeconomic uncertainty as well as continued midstream weakness,” the miner noted. “Diamond inventory has continued to build during the third quarter due to the subdued market conditions. The elevated inventory levels are not expected to unwind until 2020.”

De Beers reduced production across all the countries in which it operates except Botswana, the miner said. In De Beers’ South African operations, production fell 60% to 535,000 carats due to the lower volumes at Venetia. Production also ceased at the Voorspoed project in the Free State province at the end of last year.

Output shrank 7% to 426,000 carats in Namibia following the shutdown of De Beers’ Elizabeth Bay land operations in September 2018. However, production remained flat in Botswana, at 5.7 million carats, with a 22% planned increase at its Orapa project offset by an 18% decrease at the Jwaneng mine.

In Canada, production dropped 34% to 779,000 carats, largely due to the closure of De Beers’ Victor operation in Ontario, which reached the end of its life earlier this year.

Sales volume jumped 48% year on year to 7.4 million carats, as the company held one more sight than during the same period a year ago. However, overall rough demand remained subdued, the miner explained.

In the first nine months of 2019, the miner produced 23 million carats, down 12% year on year. Its rough-diamond sales remained flat during the period.

Source: Diamonds.net

Alrosa Sales Decline at Slower Rate

Alrosa’s sales fell 24% year on year to $258.7 million in September, amid continued market weakness.

However, the total was the highest in four months, and reflected a noticeable recovery in the small-stone sector, the Russian miner said last week.

“It is partly due to the traditional autumn market revival after the holiday period, and a slight increase in demand from Indian cutters and polishers ahead of the Diwali festival,” said Alrosa deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev. “The most noticeable increase [was] sales of small-sized rough diamonds.”

Rough-diamond sales decreased 23% to $256.5 million for the month, while polished revenue plunged 69% to $2.2 million.

Alrosa’s sales fell 34% to $2.42 billion in the first nine months of the year. Revenue from rough stones dropped 34% to $2.39 billion for the period, while polished-diamond sales slid 50% to $36.8 million.

However, while sales have seen a slight boost, Alrosa thinks a full recovery will take longer.

“The market is still facing low demand for rough diamonds, though there has been a gradual recovery for some categories of diamonds,” Agureev added. “We still believe it will take some time to get a balance between supply and demand.”

Agureev, who has been the director of Alrosa’s United Selling Organization (USO) since 2017, was promoted to deputy CEO of the group last week.

“Given the difficult conditions in the global diamond market today, Evgeny will continue to improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain of the company and look for new approaches to stimulate rough-diamond sales, as well as to increase the level of interaction with the company’s customers and expand the customer base,” noted Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov.

Source: Diamonds.net

Lucara finds blue and pink diamonds at Botswana mine

Canada’s Lucara Diamond continues to find gem quality, coloured diamonds at its Karowe mine, in Botswana, which in April yielded the 1,758 carat Sewelô meaning “rare find” diamond, the largest ever recovered in the African country.

The Vancouver based miner has now recovered a 9.74 carat blue and a 4.13 carat pink diamond from direct milling of the South Lobe, the area that yielded the famous 1,111 carat “Lesedi La Rona” in 2015.

The announcement comes on the heels of last week’s display of a 123 carat gem quality, top white, Type II diamond, found at the same section of the mine.

It also follows the recent sale of a 2.24 carat blue for $347,222 per carat.

Karowe, which began commercial operations in 2012, has this year yielded 22 diamonds larger than 100 carats, eight of them exceeding 200 carats.

Since the start of the year, the miner has sold 19 diamonds each with an individual price in excess of $1 million at its quarterly tender sales. This includes seven diamonds that fetched more than $2 million each, and one diamond that carried a final price tag of over $8 million.

“Lucara is extremely pleased with the recovery of these rare, sizeable, fancy coloured diamonds, which have the potential to contribute meaningful value to our regular production of large, high-value type IIa diamonds,” chief executive, Eira Thomas, said in the statement.

The precious rocks will be put up for sale in December, during the company’s fourth quarter tender.

Lucara, which has focused efforts on the prolific Botswana mine this year, is close to completing a feasibility study into potential underground production and life of mine expansion at Karowe.

Source: mining.com

Zimbabwe Holds Diamond Auction for 316,000 Carats

Zimbabwe’s state owned Minerals Marketing Corporation opened a 316,000 carat diamond auction, which will close at the end of the week an official said.

“This is the third auction we have conducted this year as there were some administrative issues which were taking place within the organization,” MMCZ’s General Manager Tongai Muzenda said by phone on Wednesday. The last auction was held in July.

The auction, which began on Sept. 9 and will close on Sept. 13, has attracted buying interest from Belgium, Dubai, India, Israel and South Africa, but Muzenda declined to name the companies bidding, citing confidentiality.

Zimbabwe expects to produce 4.1 million carats of diamonds this year, up from 2.8 carats in 2018. At the peak of production in 2012, the southern African country’s output was 12 million carats.

De Beers Profit Falls Amid Market Slump

Rough diamond sorting Kimberley South Africa

De Beers’ profit dropped in the first half of the year as weak demand at the trade and consumer levels impacted diamond prices, the company said Thursday.

The rough market was subdued due to high inventories in both the midstream and the retail sector, as well as a slowdown in growth of consumer demand, the miner explained. The US-China tariff dispute, protests in Hong Kong and the strong US dollar hit retail performances outside the US, especially in China and the Gulf region. In the US, retailers’ store closures and reduction of stocks weighed on polished demand, creating a further negative effect for the rough business, De Beers added.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) slumped 27% to $518 million as a result of the impact on margins, the miner reported. Total underlying earnings fell 7% to $187 million. Revenue slid 17% to $2.65 billion, with rough-diamond sales decreasing 21% to $2.3 billion. Other revenues came from businesses such as Element Six, its industrial-diamond unit, and De Beers Jewellers, its high-end retail chain.

“The lower rough-diamond sales reflected higher-than-expected polished stocks at retailers and the midstream at the beginning of 2019, with overall midstream inventory levels continuing to be high throughout the first half,” De Beers noted.

De Beers’ rough-price index, measuring prices on a like-for-like basis, fell 4% for the period versus a year earlier. The average selling price declined 7% to $151 per carat, influenced by a change in the sales mix caused by the weaker conditions.

The company expects those challenges to continue in the short term, but also foresees an improvement as the industry reduces its inventory and consumer demand rises.

“Underlying GDP [gross domestic product] growth remains supportive of consumer-demand growth, and is expected to bring midstream and retailer stocks back to more normalized levels as we move into 2020, subject to an improving macroeconomic environment,” De Beers said.

Last week, De Beers reduced its production outlook following low demand, forecasting output of 31 million carats this year, whereas it had previously expected to recover 31 million to 33 million carats. Production fell 11% to 15.6 million carats during the first half, as the company chose not to increase mining levels at other deposits to compensate for a lull at the Venetia mine. Output at the site in South Africa has fallen amid its transition from open-pit to underground operations.

Source: diamonds.net

Alrosa recovers 98 carat gem quality rough diamond

The world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa, has unearthed a rough diamond weighing 98.8 carats at Zapolyarnaya kimberlite pipe, which is the part of Russia’s Verkhne Munskoye diamond deposit.

The rock, a unique transparent one with a visible yellow shade and of gem quality, is the second major find since the launch of the deposit last October, Alrosa said.

“The find speaks about the great potential of the Verkhne Munskoye deposit,” Evgeny Agureev, member of the management board, director of the united selling organization, said in the statement. “Not every kimberlite pipe regularly brings large diamonds over 50 carats. Especially when it comes to such a large crystal, like this one weighing almost 100 carats.”

The first large gem quality diamond, weighing 51.49 carats, was mined there in October last year.

The Verkhne Munskoye deposit is expected to yield about 1.8 million carats of rough diamonds per year. According to Alrosa, its reserves are sufficient to continue mining for more than 20 years until 2042.

Last month, the company found a white rough diamond weighing nearly 200 carats at its Udachnaya pipe, its largest find in more than two years. The asset ranks among the largest primary diamond deposits both in Yakutia and abroad.

Alrosa produces close to 40 million carats of diamonds annually from its Russian mines, or about 27% of the world’s total. That’s 18% more than its closest competitor, Anglo American’s De Beers.

Source: MINING.com

Gem Diamonds Unearths 101ct. and 71ct. Diamonds

Gem Diamonds 101 Carat and 71 Carat Rough Diamonds

Gem Diamonds has recovered two large diamonds within a 24-hour period at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the company said Wednesday.

The high-quality stones are white, type IIa diamonds weighing 101 carats and 71 carats, it added.

The 101-carat stone is the 14th diamond over 100 carats the miner has found this year, a record for the company. Last year, Gem Diamonds unearthed eight stones of that size.

The largest diamond the miner has found is the 910-carat Lesotho Legend, which it claims is the fifth-largest in history. It discovered the stone in January, and sold it in March for $40 million, or $43,912 per carat.

Image: The 101-carat and 71-carat diamonds. (Gem Diamonds)

Source: Diamonds.net

Low Prices Trigger A Four-Way Merger Proposal For African Diamond Miners

Tough times in some parts of the diamond-mining industry has prompted an innovative solution, a four-way merger to create a new southern African diamond specialist.

The proposal, from the London office of the German bank, Berenberg, could see Gem Diamonds, Petra Diamonds, Lucara Diamond Corporation and Firestone Diamonds emerge as a single business with enhanced financial metrics courtesy of cost savings and a focus on big, high-quality gems.

If the deal happens, and at this stage it is just a proposal from Berenberg and not something the diamond-miners have embraced, the new business would have mines in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Lesotho.

3% By Volume, 8% by Value

Collective diamond production would total five million carats a year, which is equivalent to 3% of global output, but more importantly the proposed business would account for 8% of diamond supply by value.

The difference between volume and value is the key to Berenberg’s plan which has been published at a time when miners of small and low-grade diamonds are battling a flooded market whereas companies able to supply high-quality gems are generating strong profits.

An uncut 25 carat diamond mined in Botswana.

Values At Trough Levels

Berenberg said in a research report titled “Consolidating African diamond mining” that current valuations of diamond mining companies were at trough levels with lacklustre enthusiasm for the sector.

“We think something new is needed to return this sector to its former glory,” Berenberg said.

The bank said the logical way to start the process would be for a transaction between Lucara and Gem, which would create the go-to business for large diamonds, followed by a transaction with Petra and then with Firestone rolled into the structure.

Each company has its own production profile but Lucara is the best known for big diamonds having given the world the monster Lesedi La Rona in 2015, an 1109 carat stone which sold for $53 million and has since been cut into 67 smaller gems by Graf Diamonds.

Strong Cash Flow

According to Berenberg’s multi-stage merger proposal the new business would emerge with annual revenue of around $1.1 billion and free cash flow of $200 million.

The merged business would overcome problems which hurt investor interest in smaller diamond miners including low stock-market value, high debt levels, project risk, limited growth options and a lack of return to shareholders.

“Our $1.3 billion market capitalization business would have listings in Canada, London and Sweden and, through the ability to pay an attractive dividend (we calculate a possible yield of 7%-to-8%) and the potential to attract investment from a range of global investors,” Berenberg said.

Source: Forbes

De Beers Sales Slip to $440M

De Beers recorded its lowest-value sales cycle this year as weak Indian demand prompted it to drop prices of cheaper goods.

Proceeds fell to $440 million in November as the miner reduced prices by high-single-digit percentages for rough diamonds costing $100 per carat or less, sightholders said last week. The Indian manufacturing sector has struggled with thinning profit margins due to relatively high rough prices and the weak rupee, while tighter bank lending has further contributed to a decline in demand. November is also seasonally slow as factories close for the Diwali festival.

Proceeds from the ninth sales cycle fell 6% compared with the equivalent period a year ago, and were down 9% versus the $482 million it garnered in October, De Beers reported Tuesday.

“As the industry’s focus turns towards the key end-of-year retail selling season, rough-diamond sales continued to be in line with expectation during the ninth cycle of the year,” said De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver. “While demand for smaller, lower-quality rough diamonds continues to see some challenges, the latest cycle saw some signs of improvement in this area as factories in India begin to reopen after Diwali.”

Rough-diamond sales came to $4.85 billion for the first nine cycles of the year, in line with a year ago, according to Rapaport calculations. The company offers its rough goods at 10 sales cycles across the year, mainly at sights in Gaborone, Botswana. Its sales figures also include auction proceeds.

Image: A De Beers sightholder examines a parcel of rough diamonds. (Kieran Doherty/De Beers)

Source: Diamonds.net