The US has sanctioned Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa for corruption in connection with gold and diamond smuggling, as well as human-rights abuses.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused Mnangagwa of “providing a protective shield” to gold- and diamond-smuggling networks that operate in Zimbabwe, it said last week. He is also accused of directing Zimbabwean officials to “facilitate the sale of gold and diamonds in illicit markets” and taking “bribes in exchange for his services.”
The US has also restricted Mnangagwa for being a leader or official of entity, including any government entity, that has “engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, serious human-rights abuses,” OFAC explained.
“The Zimbabwe president is a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery,” OFAC stated.
OFAC issued the new sanctions after US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that terminated Zimbabwe’s national emergency and revoked sanctions on the entire country, so as not to target its citizens.
“The US remains deeply concerned about democratic backsliding, human-rights abuses, and government corruption in Zimbabwe,” said Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the treasury. “The changes we are making today are intended to make clear what has always been true: Our sanctions are not intended to target the people of Zimbabwe. Today we are refocusing our sanctions on clear and specific targets.”
Botswana has designated BWP 890 million ($65 million) from its new fiscal 2024-2025 budget for the purchase of a 24% stake in Belgian manufacturer HB Antwerp.
The deal, which it first announced in March, calls for the African country to supply rough from state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) to HB Botswana for five years. The partnership would operate in a similar fashion to HB’s previous supply deal with Lucara Diamond Corp, enabling Botswana to retain a share of the polished profits.
Lucara terminated its rough-supply agreement with HB in September, citing a “material breach of financial commitments” by the Belgian manufacturer as the reason for the split. That decision came on the heels of HB’s departure from cofounder and managing partner Oded Mansori, whom it has since reinstated to his original role.
There was media speculation late last year that the Botswana government was pressuring Lucara to reconnect with HB, and that the split could affect Botswana’s interest in the manufacturer. Lucara owns the Karowe mine in Botswana. The miner has since announced that it planned to form new supply deals with other vendors.
Revenue from the Ekati deposit’s rough production soared during the fourth quarter as demand for its goods strengthened, according to owner Burgundy Diamond Mines.
Sales from the Canadian mine rose 37% year on year to $166 million for the three months that ended December 31, Burgundy reported last week. Sales volume jumped 41% to 1.8 million carats, from 1.3 million carats a year before, outweighing a 2% drop in the average price to $93 per carat.
Output increased 19% to 1.2 million carats for the October-to-December period. During the quarter, Burgundy held four auctions, including one for special stones. The miner sold all of its available inventory during those auctions, it noted.
“Each of our four auctions during the December quarter were oversubscribed due to significant customer demand,” said Burgundy CEO Kim Truter. “This has put us in a strong position with a healthy cash balance to fund the upcoming winter-road resupply and to commence the important work activities to extend the mine life at Ekati.”
Burgundy is currently retrieving ore from two sites at Ekati: an open-pit operation at Sable and an underground one at Misery. It is also working on extending Sable underground and is optimizing the Point Lake area.
Burgundy purchased Ekati from Arctic Canadian Diamond Company for $136 million in March.
A visitor from France who was in the United States to see a rocket launch in Florida found a 7.46-carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park on Jan. 11, according to a news release from the park.
Julien Navas, of Paris, who was making his first visit to Crater of Diamonds on Jan. 11, found the diamond on the surface of the park’s 37.5-acre search area. It is the largest diamond registered at the park since 2020 and the eighth-largest in the park’s history.
Navas was visiting the U.S. to see the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur Rocket launch in Cape Canaveral, Fla., the release said. After the launch, Navas traveled with a friend to see the sights in New Orleans. Along the way, he learned about Crater of Diamonds State Park, which “piqued his interest as he had previously panned for gold and searched for Ammonite fossils. So he knew he had to visit the park while he was in the U.S.”
A few days before his visit, the park had received over an inch of rain, making it a wet and muddy day. After purchasing his ticket and renting a basic diamond hunting kit from the park, “Navas headed into the search area and got to work.”
“I got to the park around nine o’clock and started to dig,” Navas said in the release. “That is backbreaking work so by the afternoon I was mainly looking on top of the ground for anything that stood out.”
According to Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox, many of the park’s largest diamonds are found on the surface. “We periodically plow the search area to loosen the diamond-bearing soil and promote natural erosion,” he said in the release. “As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals, and diamonds near the surface.”
After searching for several hours, Navas carried his finds to the park’s Diamond Discovery Center, where he learned that he had discovered a brown diamond weighing 7.46 carats. When he learned that he had found a diamond, the release said, Navas was stunned and said, “I am so happy! All I can think about is telling my fiancée what I found.”
The diamond has a deep chocolate brown color and is rounded like a marble. It is about the size of a candy gumdrop.
“It is always so exciting to see first-time visitors find diamonds, especially large diamonds like this one,” Park Interpreter Sarah Reap said in the release.
Navas called Crater of Diamonds State Park “a magical place, where the dream of finding a diamond can come true! It was a real great adventure.”
Navas said he plans to return to the park with his daughter when she is older.
“Many visitors choose to name the diamonds they find at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Navas decided to name his find the Carine Diamond, after his fiancee. He said he hopes to have the stone cut into two diamonds, one for his fiancee and one for his daughter,” the release said.
The Carine Diamond is the largest diamond registered at the park since 2020, when Kevin Kinard found the 9.07-carat Kinard Friendship Diamond over Labor Day weekend. It is the eighth-largest diamond registered since the Crater of Diamonds became a state park in 1972, according to the release.
Eleven diamonds have been registered at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 2024 so far. An average of one to two diamonds are found by park visitors each day.
“In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Crater of Diamonds State Park since the first diamonds were discovered by John Huddleston, a farmer who owned the land long before it became an Arkansas State Park in 1972. The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed in 1924 during an early mining operation on the land that later became the state park,” the release said.
Julien Navas, of Paris, France, found a 7.46-carat diamond on the surface of Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro on his first visit to the park’s 37.5-acre search area. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas State Parks)
Africa-focused miners Gem Diamonds and Lucara Diamond have recovered big, high-quality Type IIa diamonds at their respective operations.
Gem Diamonds said on Thursday it had unearthed a 295-carat rough stone at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, adding to a long list of diamonds over 100 carats found at the operation over the past two years.
The prolific mine is one of the world’s ten largest diamond operations by revenue. At 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s most elevated diamond mines.
Canada’s Lucara recovered a 166-carat rough in the Coarse X-Ray Transmission unit at its Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. The company said the precious stone was sourced from direct milling of ore from the South lobe of the mine.
The 166-carat rough diamond recovered at Karowe. (Image courtesy of Lucara Diamond.)
Lucara’s latest find is the 328th diamond over 100 carats found at Karowe since it began operations in 2012. Chief executive William Lamb said the recovery further supported the economic rationale for investing in the underground expansion project to extend the mine’s life to at least 2040.
The recoveries bring some positive news into a market affected by ongoing weak conditions, with prices for wholesale polished diamonds dropping 20% last year, which also dragged down rough diamond prices.
Rio Tinto is reshuffling its interests in two Canadian projects as the global miner seeks to focus on assets considered key for the world’s transition to a green economy, such as copper and lithium.
The company has decided to sell its 75% interest in the Fort à la Corne diamond project in central Saskatchewan to joint venture partner Star Diamond Corp. in exchange for shares in the junior.
As a result, Rio Tinto Exploration Canada will own a 19.9% stake in the exploration and development company.
Rio Tinto’s head of exploration Dave Andrews said the company was now “firmly focused” on identifying opportunities in metals and minerals that support the energy transition.
“We are grateful to Rio Tinto for the significant monetary investment and expertise it has contributed to the project over the past more than five years, which has meaningfully advanced what Star Diamond believes is one of the most promising diamond projects in the world,” president and CEO Ewan Mason said in a statement.
Rio Tinto’s move follows years of tension between the partners over the terms of their development agreement. The situation saw both companies face off in court and, at one point Star Diamond considered cutting RTEC out of the project.
The partners reached an agreement on the subject in December 2021, after which RTEC put the project on hold until it could determine whether it wanted to continue or exit the venture. The camp was demobilized, and the project put on care and maintenance in the first quarter of 2023.
Copper and lithium Rio Tinto has also moved to increase its stake in Canada’s Western Copper and Gold Corporation (TSX: WRN), which is advancing the Casino project in the Yukon Territory.
Under the deal, RTEC is acquiring 3,468,208 common shares at a price of C$1.73 per share, or about C$6 million ($4.4m) total. This increases Rio Tinto’s ownership to 9.7% of Western’s outstanding common shares.
Vancouver-based Western Copper and Gold, which remains the sole owner of the Casino project, said it would use the proceeds of this fresh investment to fund specific areas of study with the aim of progressing through permitting to a development phase of the proposed mine.
“We are pleased that Rio Tinto has elected to continue to invest and work with Western to advance the Casino project, with a focus on furthering infrastructure development and streamlining the regulatory process,” CEO Paul West-Sells said in the statement.
Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jakob Stausholm recently said in an interview that the company continued to look for ways to increase exposure to key minerals and metals, particularly copper and lithium.
Visit rapaport.com/sanctions for facts and support. Martin Rapaport will fast for three days next week — Tues.-Thurs., Nov. 7-9 — to protest WDC’s support for Kimberley Process that certifies Russian diamonds. Trade is urged to fast for one day, Tuesday, Nov. 7, as WDC and KP meet in Zimbabwe. Prices of rounds stabilizing; 1 ct. RAPI +0.3% this week but -2.2% for Oct. Fancies still falling. Surat factories to close for three weeks over Nov. 12 Diwali holiday. NY DDC to hold Israel trade week Nov. 27-30.
Gem Diamonds has recovered a 117.47-carat rough from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, its fourth over 100 carats so far this year.
The miner discovered the gem-quality, type IIa diamond on October 29, it said Tuesday. The find follows that of a 101.96-carat high-quality rough on September 28, and a 163.91-carat yellow diamond on June 22. The company also unearthed a 122-carat stone on March 5.
Letšeng has been known for producing high-quality rough diamonds topping the 100-carat mark, but recently that supply has been dwindling. However, the newest recovery brings this year’s total to a tie with last year, when the miner also retrieved four diamonds in that category. That compares with six in 2021 and 16 in 2020.
The declining number of special-size stones has put a dent in 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, versus a profit of $3.8 million during the same period in 2022.
Stornoway Diamonds has suspended operations at its Renard mine in Canada amid the prolonged slowdown in demand for rough.
“The growing uncertainty of the diamond price in the short and medium term, coupled with the significant and sudden drop in the price of the resource on the world market, has had a major impact on the company’s long-term financial situation,” Stornoway said Friday. “This was in part due to the halt in the import of rough diamonds to India, and [in part to] the global geopolitical climate.”
The company will put Renard on care and maintenance to “preserve the assets and facilitate a rapid return to normal operations,” it explained. It will keep 75 of its 500 workers on staff to perform necessary tasks.
Stornoway will also seek creditor protection under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows financially troubled corporations owing more than $5 million to restructure their businesses and avoid bankruptcy. As part of this effort, the miner is “implementing a process for soliciting investment and sale proposals,” it added.
The Indian diamond-manufacturing sector announced in September that it was implementing a two-month moratorium on rough imports, from October 15 to December 15, to help reduce some of the oversupply that has built up in the midstream due to weak industry demand.
This is not the first time Stornoway has sought creditor protection under CCAA. In 2019, one of its creditors, Osisko Gold Royalties, acquired and revived the company during a restructuring process. Under the new ownership, the miner restarted operations in 2020 following a six-month halt due to Covid-19.
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.
A 7 year old girl on a birthday trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas found a big present a 2.95 carat diamond.
Arkansas State Parks said Aspen Brown of Paragould, Ark., was visiting the park with her family to celebrate her birthday when she spotted the diamond in the park’s north search area.
Officials said the 2.95 carat diamond is about the size of a green pea, with a golden-brown color.
The diamond is the second largest found by a park visitor this year, officials said. The largest was a 3.29 carat brown diamond found in March.
The Murfreesboro park was mined by commercial diamond hunters before becoming a state park in 1972.
Alrosa’s diamond sales have been unaffected by sanctions, according to the company’s first published set of financial results since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
First-half sales for 2023 were RUB 188.2 billion ($1.9 bn), up 0.2% from RUB 187.8bn ($1.9 bn), for H1 of 2022, and up 3.5 per cent on H1 of 2021. Net profit for H1 2023 was down 35 per cent year-on-year to RUB 55.57bn ($562.5m).
More detailed breakdowns of diamond sales are marked as being restricted by decree of the Government of the Russian Federation.
The US has imposed banking restrictions and sanctioned direct imports of Russian diamonds. But Russian stones polished elsewhere are not sanctioned.
The G7 countries were expected to impose restrictions when they met in May, but instead announced plans to consider a traceability solution.
India and Dubai have not imposed restrictions on Russian diamonds.
In its interim financial statement, Alrosa, the state-controlled diamond miner, says: “Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region have escalated significantly as the situation regarding Ukraine continues to evolve, which remains highly volatile.
“The sanctions against Russia, in turn, have caused economically unjustified costs in a number of foreign economies, disrupted the efficiency of supply chains and trade flows.”
Sarine Technologies saw a drop in revenue and a sharp slide in earnings for the first half of 2023 as demand for the company’s manufacturing equipment slowed.
Sales declined 24% year on year to $23.7 million in the six months that ended June 30, the Israel-based producer of technology for the diamond industry reported Sunday. Profit plummeted 85% to $953,000, as lower sales and a weaker product mix reduced margins.
High inflation and rising interest rates dented consumer demand, as did a sluggish post-pandemic recovery in China, Sarine explained.
“With a decline in the sale of polished diamonds, and the subsequent reduction of rough diamonds in the pipeline, the midstream effected less manufacturing activities,” the company said. “Appropriately, our traditional business of selling capital equipment and, to a much lesser extent our inclusion scanning services, were affected.”
Recurring revenues — from fees clients pay when they use Sarine systems, such as its Galaxy rough scanners — decreased around 9%. Outright sales of capital equipment — customers’ one-off purchases of machines — fell 40%. “Teething” problems with Sarine’s Meteorite Plus, a scanning machine for small rough stones that launched late last year, also impacted the top line. The company has rectified these issues, it said.
Revenues from services to the retail and wholesale segments, which Sarine calls trade revenues, offset the declines with a 12% rise. This mainly resulted from the acquisition of New York-based Gem Certification & Assurance Lab (GCAL) earlier this year, Sarine said.
Overall prospects for the coming months remain gloomy, the company added.
“As interest rates and inflation are likely to stay elevated and the possibility of a recession in the US is still realistic, overall industry conditions are likely to remain challenging for the rest of [2023],” it said. “Our traditional businesses of selling capital equipment and, to a much lesser extent, our Galaxy scanning services, will remain affected under subdued market conditions.”
New findings hold the potential to spark future diamond discoveries.
An international team of scientists, led by the University of Southampton, has found that the breakup of tectonic plates is the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the Earth.
This insight could significantly influence the trajectory of the diamond exploration industry, guiding efforts to locations where diamonds are most probable.
Diamonds, which form under great pressures at depth, are hundreds of millions, or even billions, of years old. They are typically found in a type of volcanic rock known as kimberlite. Kimberlites are found in the oldest, thickest, strongest parts of continents – most notably in South Africa, home to the diamond rush of the late 19th century. But how and why they got to Earth’s surface has, until now, remained a mystery.
The new research examined the effects of global tectonic forces on these volcanic eruptions spanning the last billion years. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.
Southampton researchers collaborated with colleagues from the University of Birmingham, the University of Potsdam, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Portland State University, Macquarie University, the University of Leeds, the University of Florence, and Queen’s University, Ontario.
Tom Gernon, Professor of Earth Science and Principal Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and lead author of the study, said: “The pattern of diamond eruptions is cyclical, mimicking the rhythm of the supercontinents, which assemble and break up in a repeated pattern over time. But previously we didn’t know what process causes diamonds to suddenly erupt, having spent millions – or billions – of years stashed away 150 kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface.”
To address this question, the team used statistical analysis, including machine learning, to forensically examine the link between continental breakup and kimberlite volcanism. The results showed the eruptions of most kimberlite volcanoes occurred 20 to 30 million years after the tectonic breakup of Earth’s continents.
Dr. Thea Hincks, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, said: “Using geospatial analysis, we found that kimberlite eruptions tend to gradually migrate from the continental edges to the interiors over time at rates that are consistent across the continents.”
Geological processes
This discovery prompted the scientists to explore what geological process could drive this pattern. They found that the Earth’s mantle – the convecting layer between the crust and core – is disrupted by rifting (or stretching) of the crust, even thousands of kilometers away.
Dr Stephen Jones, Associate Professor in Earth Systems at the University of Birmingham, and study co-author said: “We found that a domino effect can explain how continental breakup leads to the formation of kimberlite magma. During rifting, a small patch of the continental root is disrupted and sinks into the mantle below, triggering a chain of similar flow patterns beneath the nearby continent.”
Dr. Sascha Brune, Head of the Geodynamic Modelling Section at GFZ Potsdam, and a co-author on the study, ran simulations to investigate how this process unfolds. He said: “While sweeping along the continental root, these disruptive flows remove a substantial amount of rock, tens of kilometers thick, from the base of the continental plate.”
The typical migration rates estimated in models matched what the scientists observed from kimberlite records.
“Remarkably, this process brings together the necessary ingredients in the right amounts to trigger just enough melting to generate kimberlites,” added Dr Gernon.
The team’s research could be used to identify the possible locations and timings of past volcanic eruptions tied to this process, offering valuable insights that could enable the discovery of diamond deposits in the future.
Professor Gernon, who was recently awarded a major philanthropic grant from the WoodNext Foundation to study the factors contributing to global cooling over time, said the study also sheds light on how processes deep within the Earth control those at the surface: “Breakup not only reorganizes the mantle, but may also profoundly impact Earth’s surface environment and climate, so diamonds might be just a part of the story.”
Reference: “Rift-induced disruption of cratonic keels drives kimberlite volcanism” by Thomas M. Gernon, Stephen M. Jones, Sascha Brune, Thea K. Hincks, Martin R. Palmer, John C. Schumacher, Rebecca M. Primiceri, Matthew Field, William L. Griffin, Suzanne Y. O’Reilly, Derek Keir, Christopher J. Spencer, Andrew S. Merdith and Anne Glerum, 26 July 2023, Nature.
Istanbul Police, Tuesday, seized unprocessed raw diamonds with a market value of TL 20 million ($1 million), estimated to be 61.38 carats, during an operation in the Grand Bazaar – one of the historical trade centers of Istanbul, local Turkish media reports.
According to the report, the Istanbul Police Department and the Department of Combating Financial Crimes received information about the smuggling of diamonds in the historic Grand Bazaar, Istanbul.
They detained four foreign national suspects, the report added.
It was determined that the seized diamonds were brought to Turkey illegally, via Africa.
De Beers, the largest diamond producer by value, has unveiled a unique piece it named the “Beating Heart”, a 0.33-carat rough specimen that consists of a diamond within another diamond.
The unusual discovery – a D-colour, type IaAB diamond – has an internal cavity enclosing a smaller loose diamond, which is trapped, yet free to move around within the space.
De Beers said the gemstone was discovered at one of its mines in either Africa or Canada, but the exact origins can’t be pinpointed.
It arrived at the De Beers Institute of Diamonds facility in Maidenhead, England, in November last year, where it was verified to be a natural occurring stone.
Initial conclusions from the Institute’s experts suggest that an intermediate layer of poor-quality diamond etched away during its travel to the surface of the Earth, leaving only the better-quality material: the outer diamond and the core.
“The ‘Beating Heart’ is a remarkable example of what can happen on the natural diamond journey from formation to discovery,” Jamie Clark, Head of Global Operations at De Beers Institute of Diamonds, said in the statement.
Now registered on De Beers’ Tracr blockchain platform, which certifies a diamond’s provenance and production journey, the “Beating Heart” will be kept in its rough form for research and educational purposes.
Competitor Alrosa found a similar diamond in 2019, which was named “Matryoshka” after the famous Russian nesting dolls. The 0.62 carat gem, estimated to be over 800 million years old, resulted from one diamond growing inside another, according to Alrosa’s scientists.
Conflict diamonds, also known as blood diamonds, are diamonds that have been mined in war zones and sold to finance armed conflict against governments. These diamonds are typically mined under inhumane conditions by workers who are often forced to work in dangerous and exploitative conditions. The profits from the sale of these diamonds are then used to fund armed conflicts, which often involve violence, human rights abuses, and forced labor. This cycle of violence and exploitation is known as the “diamond curse.” To combat the trade in conflict diamonds, the international community has established the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which requires that all rough diamonds be certified as conflict-free before they can be sold on the international market. The Kimberley Process has helped to significantly reduce the trade in conflict diamonds, but concerns remain about the effectiveness of the scheme and the ongoing trade in illicit diamonds.
What percentage of diamond production are conflict diamonds The percentage of diamond production that can be considered conflict or blood diamonds has decreased significantly since the introduction of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003. According to the Kimberley Process, the percentage of conflict diamonds in the global diamond trade has fallen from approximately 15% in the 1990s to less than 1% today. However, it is important to note that some critics have raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process in preventing the trade in conflict diamonds. They argue that the definition of conflict diamonds used by the Kimberley Process is too narrow, and that some diamonds mined in areas of conflict may still be entering the market through illegal channels. Furthermore, there have been reports of human rights abuses and unethical practices in diamond mining in countries that are not considered conflict zones. So while the percentage of conflict diamonds in the global diamond trade is believed to be low, it is important to remain vigilant and continue efforts to ensure that all diamonds are mined and traded ethically and responsibly.
How do i ensure the diamond i buy is conflict free To ensure that the diamond you buy is conflict-free, you should look for a diamond that has been certified as such by a reputable organization. The most widely recognized certification scheme for conflict-free diamonds is the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), which was established in 2003 to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds. Here are some steps you can take to ensure that the diamond you buy is conflict-free:
Buy from a reputable jeweller: Look for a jeweller that is committed to selling conflict-free diamonds and has a policy in place to verify the origin of their diamonds. Many jewelers are members of organizations that promote ethical and responsible diamond sourcing, such as the Responsible Jewellery Council or the Jewelers of America.
Ask for a certificate of authenticity: Ask your jeweller for a certificate of authenticity that verifies the origin of the diamond you are interested in buying. The certificate should state that the diamond is conflict-free and has been mined and traded in compliance with the Kimberley Process.
Look for laser inscriptions: Some diamonds may have a laser inscription on the girdle that indicates the origin of the diamond and its certification number. This can be a helpful way to verify the diamond’s origin and ensure that it is conflict-free.
Consider buying a lab-grown diamond: Lab-grown diamonds are an ethical and sustainable alternative to mined diamonds. They are produced in a laboratory using advanced technology and do not have the same environmental or social impacts as mined diamonds.
By taking these steps, you can help ensure that the diamond you buy is conflict-free and has been mined and traded in a responsible and ethical manner.
Two large high-quality diamonds – each larger than 50 carats – were unearthed in Yakutia on December 2, 2022, Bankers Day, “when Russian bankers celebrated their professional holiday,” according to Rough & Polished.
The two stones were extracted at Processing Plant No. 12 from the ore mined at the Udachnaya diamond pipe. One weighs over 67 carats, while the second diamond, a type IIa, weighs more than 52 carats,
Dmitry Amelkin, Alrosa’s Strategy Director, commented: “Finding two of these rare gem-quality diamonds on one and the same day is a unique coincidence. It is symbolic that this happened precisely on the Udachnaya diamond pipe, which has been accompanied by good luck since its discovery
De Beers has made sharp price changes at this week’s sight, implementing deep reductions in larger goods and increases for smaller stones.
Prices fell by as much as 10% in 2-carat rough and above, with lower-quality items seeing the most significant drops, sources told Rapaport News Monday on condition of anonymity. Prices of diamonds under 0.75 carats rose by similar percentages, reflecting a market split that has persisted since late last year, insiders said. Sizes in between saw more modest declines.
“There have been quite wild increases and decreases,” one source said. “Not to say that they’re not justified, but it’s interesting that they’ve done that.”
De Beers declined to comment.
The adjustments follow months of sluggishness in larger, lower-quality rough as Chinese demand slumped during the country’s Covid-19 outbreaks and inflation dented mid-market US spending. Stones in the 3-grainer category and below have remained relatively strong due to steady sales of polished melee and Indian manufacturers’ efforts to fill factories with cheaper material.
De Beers kept its prices firm throughout 2022 despite the weakness in the larger categories, which constitute a significant proportion of its sales. This impacted profit margins at cutting firms, many of which perceived the miner’s rough to be expensive, insiders explained.
“These are the prices [at] which they should have been selling since October,” a sightholder commented. “It’s aligning with reality [rather than] reflecting a relatively poor end of year.”
De Beers is known for its reluctance to reduce prices during downturns, as was the case during the Covid-19 crisis. Now, as then, it has waited for a slight improvement in trading before taking action. China’s reopening has boosted sentiment, while the recent US holiday period was satisfactory, albeit slower than 2021’s record season.
The first sight of 2023, which runs Monday to Friday, comes amid uncertainty about the global economic situation, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and the prospects for the Chinese New Year, which occurs on January 22.
It’s also a time of transition at De Beers, which is welcoming a new CEO, Al Cook, to succeed Bruce Cleaver on February 20 and is in the middle of negotiations with the Botswana government over an updated sales deal.
“Generally, things are a bit better than they were four or five months back, but that is because of low [polished] production, not because of an improvement of the market,” a manufacturing executive commented. “So the challenges remain.”
An Indian court has found five manufacturers in Surat guilty of copyright infringement and the illegal use of Sarine Technologies’ software, the Israel-based company reported.
“The court’s ruling has made it clear that any company using unlicensed or pirated Advisor software is breaking the law,” said Sarine CEO David Block in a statement Sunday, referring to its rough-planning technology. “We intend to aggressively protect our IP [intellectual property] and will continue taking action against any entities involved in infringement.”
Sarine took legal action against several companies in and around the Indian manufacturing city of Surat in May. Court commissioners visited the premises of the alleged infringers on May 18, Sarine said at the time.
The court has also ordered the entities in question — Gopi Impex, Nirghay Impex, Pramukh Gems, Dhiren Diamonds and Bhumika Gems — to remove the infringing software from their computers, according to the company, which provides diamond-scanning equipment for the manufacturing industry. Rapaport News was unable to reach the alleged infringers for comment.
![Alrosa Finds 2 Huge Diamonds at Udachnaya on the Same Day Two large high-quality diamonds – each larger than 50 carats – were unearthed in Yakutia on December 2, 2022, Bankers Day, “when Russian bankers celebrated their professional holiday,” according to Rough & Polished. The two stones were extracted at Processing Plant No. 12 from the ore mined at the Udachnaya diamond pipe. One weighs over 67 carats, while the second diamond, a type IIa, weighs more than 52 carats, Dmitry Amelkin, Alrosa’s Strategy Director, commented: “Finding two of these rare gem-quality diamonds on one and the same day is a unique coincidence. It is symbolic that this happened precisely on the Udachnaya diamond pipe, which has been accompanied by good luck since its discovery […]”. diamond mining trucks Russia Credit: Alrosa](https://www.dcla.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/alrosa-large-rough-diamonds.jpg "Alrosa Finds 2 Huge Diamonds at Udachnaya on the Same Day Two large high-quality diamonds – each larger than 50 carats – were unearthed in Yakutia on December 2, 2022, Bankers Day, “when Russian bankers celebrated their professional holiday,” according to Rough & Polished. The two stones were extracted at Processing Plant No. 12 from the ore mined at the Udachnaya diamond pipe. One weighs over 67 carats, while the second diamond, a type IIa, weighs more than 52 carats, Dmitry Amelkin, Alrosa’s Strategy Director, commented: “Finding two of these rare gem-quality diamonds on one and the same day is a unique coincidence. It is symbolic that this happened precisely on the Udachnaya diamond pipe, which has been accompanied by good luck since its discovery […]”. diamond mining trucks Russia Credit: Alrosa")
