De Beers’ recent diamonds sale the worst in two years

Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s No.1 diamond miner by value, has just had the lowest sales for its seventh cycle since it began releasing data in 2016, as it let customers delay acquiring smaller stones for the first time.

Sales for the cycle stood at a provisional $505 million, down 5.5% from the $533 million obtained in the previous cycle of the year and 0.4% from $507 million for same period in 2017.

“De Beers Group provided Sightholders with the opportunity to re-phase the allocation of some smaller, lower value rough diamonds.” chief executive officer, Bruce Cleaver, acknowledged in the statement.

The unusual move (De Beers is known for requiring buyers to take what’s offered) says lots about the state of the low-end diamond market. The last time the company did something similar, in fact, was two years ago, when India’s move to ban high-value currency notes pushed down demand.

Sales were down $134 million or 21% compared to the same cycle in 2016, when De Beers began releasing this kind of data.The diamond giant has about 80 handpicked clients called sightholders who are allocated parcels of diamonds sorted and aggregated in Gaborone. The 10 annual sales events are known as sights.

De Beers’ new strategy for small stones, paired with its looming entry into the lab-grown stones ma
rket, have many in the industry worrying about prices.

Cheaper diamonds, which are often small and low quality, are selling for a lot less now than five years ago. And when it comes to synthetic stones, De Beers’ entry in the market will create a big price gap between mined and lab diamonds, pressuring rivals that specialize in synthesized stones at the same time.

A 1-carat man-made diamond sells for about $4,000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8,000. De Beers new lab diamonds will sell for about $800 a carat. That’s a fifth of the price of existing man-made stones and one-tenth of the cost of buying a similar natural gem.

No wonder competitors are worried. The lab-grown industry has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, accusing De Beers of price dumping and predatory pricing.

Low sales, stable demand

In 2016, De Beers recorded sales of $639 million for the seventh of its tenth annual sales events. That is $134 million or 21% more than what it just made after letting buyers reject small, low-quality stones. That means that, to date, 2018 is shaping to be the worst in terms of sales for the Beers in the past two years, with combined sales of $3.93 billion against the previous year’s $4 billion and 2016’s sales of $4.12 billion.

The dip is sales comes despite demand has remained stable ahead of the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, at least according to what Cleaver said. The exhibit, which takes place from Friday this week to Tuesday next week, last year reportedly attracted 3,695 exhibitors and 59,122 buyers.

Source: mining.com

De Beers’ recent diamonds sale the worst in two years

Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s No.1 diamond miner by value, has just had the lowest sales for its seventh cycle since it began releasing data in 2016, as it let customers delay acquiring smaller stones for the first time.

Sales for the cycle stood at a provisional $505 million, down 5.5% from the $533 million obtained in the previous cycle of the year and 0.4% from $507 million for same period in 2017.

“De Beers Group provided Sightholders with the opportunity to re-phase the allocation of some smaller, lower value rough diamonds.” chief executive officer, Bruce Cleaver, acknowledged in the statement.

The unusual move (De Beers is known for requiring buyers to take what’s offered) says lots about the state of the low-end diamond market. The last time the company did something similar, in fact, was two years ago, when India’s move to ban high-value currency notes pushed down demand.

Sales were down $134 million or 21% compared to the same cycle in 2016, when De Beers began releasing this kind of data.The diamond giant has about 80 handpicked clients called sightholders who are allocated parcels of diamonds sorted and aggregated in Gaborone. The 10 annual sales events are known as sights.

De Beers’ new strategy for small stones, paired with its looming entry into the lab-grown stones ma
rket, have many in the industry worrying about prices.

Cheaper diamonds, which are often small and low quality, are selling for a lot less now than five years ago. And when it comes to synthetic stones, De Beers’ entry in the market will create a big price gap between mined and lab diamonds, pressuring rivals that specialize in synthesized stones at the same time.

A 1-carat man-made diamond sells for about $4,000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8,000. De Beers new lab diamonds will sell for about $800 a carat. That’s a fifth of the price of existing man-made stones and one-tenth of the cost of buying a similar natural gem.

No wonder competitors are worried. The lab-grown industry has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, accusing De Beers of price dumping and predatory pricing.

Low sales, stable demand

In 2016, De Beers recorded sales of $639 million for the seventh of its tenth annual sales events. That is $134 million or 21% more than what it just made after letting buyers reject small, low-quality stones. That means that, to date, 2018 is shaping to be the worst in terms of sales for the Beers in the past two years, with combined sales of $3.93 billion against the previous year’s $4 billion and 2016’s sales of $4.12 billion.

The dip is sales comes despite demand has remained stable ahead of the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, at least according to what Cleaver said. The exhibit, which takes place from Friday this week to Tuesday next week, last year reportedly attracted 3,695 exhibitors and 59,122 buyers.

Source: mining.com

Signet Open to Lab-Grown Diamonds

Signet Jewelers will consider selling lab-grown diamonds at its stores if consumer demand justifies such a move, CEO Gina Drosos said in a conference call with analysts.

“We are very closely monitoring and assessing the demand for this emerging category,” Drosos said during the company’s earnings call last week. “We’ll make sure that Signet is well positioned to participate in that space if the growth and the economics of it are attractive and if customers point us in that direction.”

Lab-grown diamonds have garnered greater interest recently, after De Beers unveiled its Lightbox lab-grown-diamond jewelry brand in early June, and which is slated to start selling online this month. De Beers plans to forge partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers to carry the collection in their stores in the next year or two, with growing speculation that Signet might be lining up to carry the collection.

Signet is a sigththolder client for De Beers rough diamonds and is also participating in the miner’s Tracr blockchain initiative.

Drosos echoed De Beers’ messaging that customers prefer natural diamonds for “really important purchases,” such as for engagement rings, special birthdays or graduations, whereas there is growing interest in lab-grown for fashion jewelry. She stressed that the company currently didn’t carry lab-grown diamonds at any of its stores, which include Kay Jewelers, Zales and Jared.

Image: JCK Events

Signet Open to Lab-Grown Diamonds

Signet Jewelers will consider selling lab-grown diamonds at its stores if consumer demand justifies such a move, CEO Gina Drosos said in a conference call with analysts.

“We are very closely monitoring and assessing the demand for this emerging category,” Drosos said during the company’s earnings call last week. “We’ll make sure that Signet is well positioned to participate in that space if the growth and the economics of it are attractive and if customers point us in that direction.”

Lab-grown diamonds have garnered greater interest recently, after De Beers unveiled its Lightbox lab-grown-diamond jewelry brand in early June, and which is slated to start selling online this month. De Beers plans to forge partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers to carry the collection in their stores in the next year or two, with growing speculation that Signet might be lining up to carry the collection.

Signet is a sigththolder client for De Beers rough diamonds and is also participating in the miner’s Tracr blockchain initiative.

Drosos echoed De Beers’ messaging that customers prefer natural diamonds for “really important purchases,” such as for engagement rings, special birthdays or graduations, whereas there is growing interest in lab-grown for fashion jewelry. She stressed that the company currently didn’t carry lab-grown diamonds at any of its stores, which include Kay Jewelers, Zales and Jared.

Image: JCK Events

Frontier Diamonds uncovers huge 111ct gem at Bellsbank

Frontier Diamonds has uncovered an 111 carat diamond at its Bellsbank kimberlite pipe project in South Africa while processing kimberlite material and tailings through its recently built dual purpose plant.

The company pointed out it was unable to confirm whether the diamond came from the tailings or kimberlite bulk sample from the project.
However, during earlier plant commissioning, Frontier recovered a 1.45ct diamond, which it pinpointed to coming from Bellsbank material.

An independent report has confirmed the presence of a 0.35 hectare kimberlite deposit at Bellsbank with an estimated grade between 10 carats per hundred tonnes and 30cpht.

Before today’s news, Frontier was in the process of undertaking a $1.075 million placement to boost its working capital while it ramps up production at its other South African diamond operations: Sedibeng and Star.
As a result of the placement proceedings, Frontier placed its securities in a trading halt when it confirmed the Bellsbank diamond had been discovered.

Under the placement, Frontier will now only accept commitments from investors that held securities prior to today’s news.

Frontier hopes to raise $1.075 million by issuing 26.875 million shares at $0.04 each – which is 20% discount to the company’s share price prior to news of this latest diamond find at Bellsbank.

Frontier sent the diamond for an independent valuation and will update the market on its value.

Source: smallcaps

Frontier Diamonds uncovers huge 111ct gem at Bellsbank

Frontier Diamonds has uncovered an 111 carat diamond at its Bellsbank kimberlite pipe project in South Africa while processing kimberlite material and tailings through its recently built dual purpose plant.

The company pointed out it was unable to confirm whether the diamond came from the tailings or kimberlite bulk sample from the project.
However, during earlier plant commissioning, Frontier recovered a 1.45ct diamond, which it pinpointed to coming from Bellsbank material.

An independent report has confirmed the presence of a 0.35 hectare kimberlite deposit at Bellsbank with an estimated grade between 10 carats per hundred tonnes and 30cpht.

Before today’s news, Frontier was in the process of undertaking a $1.075 million placement to boost its working capital while it ramps up production at its other South African diamond operations: Sedibeng and Star.
As a result of the placement proceedings, Frontier placed its securities in a trading halt when it confirmed the Bellsbank diamond had been discovered.

Under the placement, Frontier will now only accept commitments from investors that held securities prior to today’s news.

Frontier hopes to raise $1.075 million by issuing 26.875 million shares at $0.04 each – which is 20% discount to the company’s share price prior to news of this latest diamond find at Bellsbank.

Frontier sent the diamond for an independent valuation and will update the market on its value.

Source: smallcaps

POZ Minerals to Bid for Ellendale Mine

Only a year ago, very few in the diamond industry would have heard of POZ Minerals. But the company, better known as a phosphates producer, is trying to build a portfolio of projects in Western Australia that could make it a niche supplier of fancy-yellow diamonds.

POZ announced Tuesday that it was bidding for the Ellendale mine after the state government’s call for investors in the asset last week. While POZ already owns the adjacent Blina mine, it hopes to combine the two assets and solidify its position in the fancy-yellow category, Jim Richards, POZ chairman, explained in an interview with Rapaport News Monday.

Owning both “would result in economies of scale and efficiencies in exploration and development and would be a major step towards building a branded diamond-mining company producing the fancy yellows for which Blina and Ellendale are justifiably famous,” the company added in a statement it released Tuesday.

Richards believes the company is a front-runner in the Ellendale bid, given that it already has four mining leases at Blina and since POZ is the only miner in the area with such a license. It also already has a deal with Bunuba Group, the native titleholder for both the Blina and Ellendale land.

Ellendale comes with some history, however, after former owner Kimberley Diamonds ran up bills and a list of creditors that forced it to close the mine in 2015. That, despite a lucrative supply agreement with luxury jewelry Tiffany & Co. for its fancy-yellow diamonds.

Richards is hoping to reestablish that partnership and forge new ones with other retailers. Ellendale’s yellows have a consistency few other mines can achieve, he explains. Meanwhile, POZ is in talks with retailers in Australia and abroad for similar offtake agreements and branding of yellow diamonds from the Blina mine.

POZ is still in a testing phase at Blina and is looking for investors, or to partner with “an experienced mining company,” before production can proceed. Testing shows that fancy yellows account for about 7% of Blina’s production, while white stones make up 18%, 46% are off-white diamonds, and 29% brown. Of those, 93% are gem content or near-gem content, Richards noted.

A parcel of stones from the mine was valued at an average price of $389 per carat, with the fancy-yellow diamonds estimated at approximately $3,391 per carat.

Image: Blina mine yellow diamonds. Credit: POZ Minerals

Source: DCLA