Gem Diamonds big discoveries reach a dozen

Africa focused Gem Diamonds must be getting used to recovering huge precious rocks from its flagship Letšeng mine in Lesotho, as it has just dug up another massive one.

The 138 carat, top white colour Type IIa diamond is 12th diamond over 100 carats the company finds this year, beating the 11 it dug up in 2015.

The largest diamond found this year is a 910 carat  D colour type IIa diamond, about the size of two golf balls, which was named the “Lesotho Legend.”  It became the second largest recovered in the past century and sold for $40 million at an auction in March.

Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, Gem Diamonds has found now five of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recovered, which makes the mine the world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond operation.

At an average elevation of 3,100 metres above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.

The biggest diamond ever found was the 3,106 carat Cullinan, dug near Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905. It was later cut into several stones, including the First Star of Africa and the Second Star of Africa, which are part of Britain’s Crown Jewels held in the Tower of London.

Lucara’s 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona was the second biggest in record, while the 995 carat Excelsior and 969 carat Star of Sierra Leone were the third  and fourth largest.

Source: mining.com

Gem Diamonds big discoveries reach a dozen

Africa focused Gem Diamonds must be getting used to recovering huge precious rocks from its flagship Letšeng mine in Lesotho, as it has just dug up another massive one.

The 138 carat, top white colour Type IIa diamond is 12th diamond over 100 carats the company finds this year, beating the 11 it dug up in 2015.

The largest diamond found this year is a 910 carat  D colour type IIa diamond, about the size of two golf balls, which was named the “Lesotho Legend.”  It became the second largest recovered in the past century and sold for $40 million at an auction in March.

Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, Gem Diamonds has found now five of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recovered, which makes the mine the world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond operation.

At an average elevation of 3,100 metres above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.

The biggest diamond ever found was the 3,106 carat Cullinan, dug near Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905. It was later cut into several stones, including the First Star of Africa and the Second Star of Africa, which are part of Britain’s Crown Jewels held in the Tower of London.

Lucara’s 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona was the second biggest in record, while the 995 carat Excelsior and 969 carat Star of Sierra Leone were the third  and fourth largest.

Source: mining.com

GIA Spots Broken Diamond Glued Back Together

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has identified a stone comprising two halves of a diamond that had been stuck together with an “unknown adhesive.”

Graders noticed a large fracture and cavity on the table of the marquise-cut, 1.38-carat polished diamond submitted to the GIA’s laboratory in Carlsbad, California, for colored-diamond testing. When the gemologists examined the crack under a microscope, they noticed a gap running down the stone from the crown to the pavilion, as well as a slight misalignment in the facets and air bubbles inside the fracture.

The polish lines on the stone’s facets would have linked if there hadn’t been a fracture, GIA gemologist Troy Ardon explained this month in a lab note in the latest edition of Gems & Gemology. For that reason, gemologists determined that the stone had been broken in half after it was at least partially polished, and then repaired with an unidentified adhesive.

“Diamonds have been adhered together with glue to form a diamond-doublet, but a broken diamond that has been repaired was not something previously reported by GIA,” Ardon added.

The GIA couldn’t grade the diamond because the 4Cs wouldn’t apply to it, the note continued. A carat weight would have been meaningless, as it would have comprised the weight of both halves plus the adhesive.

Image: Robison McMurtry/GIA

GIA Spots Broken Diamond Glued Back Together

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has identified a stone comprising two halves of a diamond that had been stuck together with an “unknown adhesive.”

Graders noticed a large fracture and cavity on the table of the marquise-cut, 1.38-carat polished diamond submitted to the GIA’s laboratory in Carlsbad, California, for colored-diamond testing. When the gemologists examined the crack under a microscope, they noticed a gap running down the stone from the crown to the pavilion, as well as a slight misalignment in the facets and air bubbles inside the fracture.

The polish lines on the stone’s facets would have linked if there hadn’t been a fracture, GIA gemologist Troy Ardon explained this month in a lab note in the latest edition of Gems & Gemology. For that reason, gemologists determined that the stone had been broken in half after it was at least partially polished, and then repaired with an unidentified adhesive.

“Diamonds have been adhered together with glue to form a diamond-doublet, but a broken diamond that has been repaired was not something previously reported by GIA,” Ardon added.

The GIA couldn’t grade the diamond because the 4Cs wouldn’t apply to it, the note continued. A carat weight would have been meaningless, as it would have comprised the weight of both halves plus the adhesive.

Image: Robison McMurtry/GIA

Pandora to Slash Nearly 400 Jobs

Pandora plans to lay off 397 employees after disappointing second quarter results and a weakened outlook for the rest of the year.

While sales grew 4% in local currencies to $748.2 million (DKK 4.82 billion) for the quarter, the retailer lowered its revenue guidance for the year to an increase of 4% to 7%, from its previous forecast of 7% to 10%. It also expects lower profit margins, after that measure declined in the second quarter, it said Monday. The company’s stock price was down 21% at press time Tuesday.

Streamlining the business will help Pandora’s financial performance by reducing complexity and shifting resources to strategic priorities such as digital and e-commerce sales, CEO Anders Colding Friis explained in a separate statement Tuesday. Pandora has nearly doubled in size in the past three years, with new organizational practices emerging in different parts of the company, the executive added. The changes will reduce costs by about $23.3 million (DKK 150 million) per year, the company said.

“The adjustments are…necessary to protect our profitability,” Colding Friis said. “Sadly, the changes mean that good employees will lose their jobs, and we are supporting them in the best possible way.”
Of the layoffs, 218 will be in Thailand, where Pandora employs 13,000 people, including 5,000 at a new manufacturing center it unveiled in June. The company’s global workforce numbers 27,000.

Pandora has suffered from weak demand for its products in the US, as well as competition from unauthorized traders in the Asia Pacific region. Last month, it said it had reduced retail prices in China to combat the grey market, in which other companies sell its products without a license.

Meanwhile, Pandora has appointed Sid Keswani as president for the Americas. Keswani is a former CEO of grocery store chain Fiesta Mart, and replaces Scott Burger, who left the company in January. He will begin on August 13, reporting directly to the CEO.

Pandora will release its full results for the second quarter on August 9.

Pandora to Slash Nearly 400 Jobs

Pandora plans to lay off 397 employees after disappointing second quarter results and a weakened outlook for the rest of the year.

While sales grew 4% in local currencies to $748.2 million (DKK 4.82 billion) for the quarter, the retailer lowered its revenue guidance for the year to an increase of 4% to 7%, from its previous forecast of 7% to 10%. It also expects lower profit margins, after that measure declined in the second quarter, it said Monday. The company’s stock price was down 21% at press time Tuesday.

Streamlining the business will help Pandora’s financial performance by reducing complexity and shifting resources to strategic priorities such as digital and e-commerce sales, CEO Anders Colding Friis explained in a separate statement Tuesday. Pandora has nearly doubled in size in the past three years, with new organizational practices emerging in different parts of the company, the executive added. The changes will reduce costs by about $23.3 million (DKK 150 million) per year, the company said.

“The adjustments are…necessary to protect our profitability,” Colding Friis said. “Sadly, the changes mean that good employees will lose their jobs, and we are supporting them in the best possible way.”
Of the layoffs, 218 will be in Thailand, where Pandora employs 13,000 people, including 5,000 at a new manufacturing center it unveiled in June. The company’s global workforce numbers 27,000.

Pandora has suffered from weak demand for its products in the US, as well as competition from unauthorized traders in the Asia Pacific region. Last month, it said it had reduced retail prices in China to combat the grey market, in which other companies sell its products without a license.

Meanwhile, Pandora has appointed Sid Keswani as president for the Americas. Keswani is a former CEO of grocery store chain Fiesta Mart, and replaces Scott Burger, who left the company in January. He will begin on August 13, reporting directly to the CEO.

Pandora will release its full results for the second quarter on August 9.

Lucapa Finds 3 More Special Diamonds at Mothae Mine

Just a week after unearthing an 11.88 carat diamond, Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered more “special” diamonds from its Mothae mine, including a 28-carat stone and two light pink diamonds.

Special diamonds, a term the company uses to describe any diamond over 10.8 carats, have been abundant at Mothae in recent weeks.

The company is currently conducting ongoing bulk sampling, and recent results have included an 89 carat yellow stone from Mothae’s South East zone, a 25 carat yellow gem from the Neck zone and a 12-carat white diamond from the North zone.

The bulk sampling at the site is happening alongside construction of a new 150-tonne-per-hour commercial diamond plant, which is on schedule to be commissioned in H2 2018.

Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall has previously discussed the company’s bulk-sampling program, describing the prior lack of exploration at the site.

“Certain areas of the kimberlite pipe which hadn’t historically been sampled (Neck zone), or where there had been very limited historical testing (South-East and North zones), were thought to be underestimated as a result. At the time of acquisition, we believed there was much upside here and this program is designed to deliver that upside,” Wetherall said.

Wetherall also touched on the commercial diamond plant’s construction, and how the successful recovery results have given the company optimism for the road ahead.

“To have already recovered special sized diamonds from early sampling tonnages in all three of these areas gives us great confidence we can achieve this goal. It also adds to our excitement as we advance construction of our new 150 tph plant, which remains on track for commercial diamond production later this year,” he said.

The Mothae mine, located in Lesotho, South Africa, is a joint venture between Lucapa, which owns 70 percent, and the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, which owns 30 percent.

Source: DCLA