China Bourse to Promote Lab-Grown Diamonds

The Guangzhou Diamond Exchange (GZDE) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China’s major synthetics suppliers to develop and promote lab-grown diamonds in the country.

The parties signed the contract last week during a forum on the benefits of synthetic stones that took place during the 2019 China International, Gold Jewellery & Gem Fair in Shenzhen.

The partnership is an effort to provide consistent demand for lab-grown diamonds in China’s fluctuating market, GZDE, which is not a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, said Tuesday.

“The high-tech genes of lab-grown diamonds, the ability [for] stable supply, and its outstanding appearance, [which is the] same as natural diamonds, have opened a window for this new material,” said GZDE chairman Zhu Yongsheng. “In addition to the innovative application in jewelry through creative design, it could [create] cross-border development with other industries.”

The GZDE will promote lab-grown-diamond trading as a separate business, with synthetics dealers using a new GZDE logo that references them as a lab-grown seller, the exchange added.

Clarification, April 28, 2019: This story has been updated to clarify that the Guangzhou Diamond Exchange is not a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

Image: Lab-grown diamond exhibit at the forum. Guangzhou Diamond Exchange

Source: Diamonds.net

China Bourse to Promote Lab-Grown Diamonds

The Guangzhou Diamond Exchange (GZDE) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China’s major synthetics suppliers to develop and promote lab-grown diamonds in the country.

The parties signed the contract last week during a forum on the benefits of synthetic stones that took place during the 2019 China International, Gold Jewellery & Gem Fair in Shenzhen.

The partnership is an effort to provide consistent demand for lab-grown diamonds in China’s fluctuating market, GZDE, which is not a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, said Tuesday.

“The high-tech genes of lab-grown diamonds, the ability [for] stable supply, and its outstanding appearance, [which is the] same as natural diamonds, have opened a window for this new material,” said GZDE chairman Zhu Yongsheng. “In addition to the innovative application in jewelry through creative design, it could [create] cross-border development with other industries.”

The GZDE will promote lab-grown-diamond trading as a separate business, with synthetics dealers using a new GZDE logo that references them as a lab-grown seller, the exchange added.

Clarification, April 28, 2019: This story has been updated to clarify that the Guangzhou Diamond Exchange is not a member of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

Image: Lab-grown diamond exhibit at the forum. Guangzhou Diamond Exchange

Source: Diamonds.net

Lucara Diamond Corp. Recovers Record 1,758 Carat Diamond from Karowe

A giant 1,758-carat diamond, the second-biggest ever discovered, has been found in Botswana. But unlike its rivals, it won’t fetch a record-breaking price.

Lucara Diamond Corp. said it unearthed the stone — roughly the size of a tennis ball — at its Karowe project in Botswana, a mine renowned for its huge gems including the previous holder of the No. 2 position. Still, the company said the diamond is a near gem of variable quality, meaning it won’t yield incredibly valuable polished diamonds on par with earlier finds.

Lucara’s Karowe mine is becoming famous for giant stones. In 2015, Lucara found the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, which at the time was the second-largest ever and eventually sold for $53 million. The mine has also yielded a 813-carat stone that fetched a record $63 million. Those two gems were both much more valuable Type-IIa stones.

Still, the latest find shows that Karowe’s plant can process and detect huge gems without breaking them, a consistent headache when trying to separate brittle stones from hundreds of tons of waste rock.

“Karowe has now produced two diamonds greater than 1,000 carats in just four years, affirming the coarse nature of the resource and the likelihood of recovering additional, large, high quality diamonds in the future,” Eira Thomas, Lucara’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Lucara, based in Vancouver, Canada, rose as much as 12 percent, the most in a year.

The biggest diamond ever discovered is the 3,106-carat Cullinan, found near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905. It was cut into several polished gems, the two largest of which — the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa — are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain.

Source: DCLA

Lucara Diamond Corp. Recovers Record 1,758 Carat Diamond from Karowe

A giant 1,758-carat diamond, the second-biggest ever discovered, has been found in Botswana. But unlike its rivals, it won’t fetch a record-breaking price.

Lucara Diamond Corp. said it unearthed the stone — roughly the size of a tennis ball — at its Karowe project in Botswana, a mine renowned for its huge gems including the previous holder of the No. 2 position. Still, the company said the diamond is a near gem of variable quality, meaning it won’t yield incredibly valuable polished diamonds on par with earlier finds.

Lucara’s Karowe mine is becoming famous for giant stones. In 2015, Lucara found the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, which at the time was the second-largest ever and eventually sold for $53 million. The mine has also yielded a 813-carat stone that fetched a record $63 million. Those two gems were both much more valuable Type-IIa stones.

Still, the latest find shows that Karowe’s plant can process and detect huge gems without breaking them, a consistent headache when trying to separate brittle stones from hundreds of tons of waste rock.

“Karowe has now produced two diamonds greater than 1,000 carats in just four years, affirming the coarse nature of the resource and the likelihood of recovering additional, large, high quality diamonds in the future,” Eira Thomas, Lucara’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Lucara, based in Vancouver, Canada, rose as much as 12 percent, the most in a year.

The biggest diamond ever discovered is the 3,106-carat Cullinan, found near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905. It was cut into several polished gems, the two largest of which — the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa — are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain.

Source: DCLA

ALROSA recovers “Zarya” a 119 carat gem quality stone

Alrosa revealed a 118.91 carat gem quality diamond that is recovered from its “International” mine, which is located close to the town of Mirny in the Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation.

The company said that stone, which was found on April 16, is the largest gem-quality diamond on found at the International pipe in the past two years. A similar, large gem-quality diamond, weighing 109.61 carats, was mined here in the summer of 2017.

The newly mined light yellow rough diamond has “salient edges, one of them with cleavage, and small inclusions in the central zone,” the firm said in a news release

“This crystal is unique as it has a large clean area despite the inclusions in the center – this makes it a gem-quality diamond. Well known hallmarks of the diamonds from the International kimberlite pipe are regular shapes and purity.

That is exactly the pipe that most often brings ALROSA regular shape octahedrons with smooth edges,” explained Evgeny Agureev, Member of the Management Board, Director of the United Selling Organization at ALROSA.

Source:  DCLA

ALROSA recovers “Zarya” a 119 carat gem quality stone

Alrosa revealed a 118.91 carat gem quality diamond that is recovered from its “International” mine, which is located close to the town of Mirny in the Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation.

The company said that stone, which was found on April 16, is the largest gem-quality diamond on found at the International pipe in the past two years. A similar, large gem-quality diamond, weighing 109.61 carats, was mined here in the summer of 2017.

The newly mined light yellow rough diamond has “salient edges, one of them with cleavage, and small inclusions in the central zone,” the firm said in a news release

“This crystal is unique as it has a large clean area despite the inclusions in the center – this makes it a gem-quality diamond. Well known hallmarks of the diamonds from the International kimberlite pipe are regular shapes and purity.

That is exactly the pipe that most often brings ALROSA regular shape octahedrons with smooth edges,” explained Evgeny Agureev, Member of the Management Board, Director of the United Selling Organization at ALROSA.

Source:  DCLA

Argyle diamond set to fetch millions

This rare sparkler may be worth millions but its discovery at Argyle in the Kimberley won’t be enough to stop the mine’s closure next year.

Mine operator Rio Tinto says the Argyle Octavia is one of the biggest gem quality white diamonds found at the mine over its 35 year history.

The 28.84 carat rock was recovered from the east Kimberley mine last month.

Argyle Diamonds general manager Andrew Wilson said the Argyle Octavia was unique in its size, shape and provenance and would take its place in history as one of a few special large white diamonds ever to be produced from the mine.

The stone will be sold by private tender at the world’s diamond capital, Antwerp in Belgium, later this year.
Collectors, jewellers and traders will be invited to place confidential bids, with the rough diamond going to the highest bidder.

The rock is expected to attract strong bidding given only about 20 similar stones have been recovered from Argyle and the mine’s imminent closure means it will be considered a legacy piece.

Its rare and beautiful octahedral shape is also likely to attract a strong premium compared to similar gems.
Alluvial diamond mining started at Argyle in 1983, moving to an open pit operation between 1985 and 2013, followed by an underground operation from 2013 using a block cave method of mining.

But there is no economic case for continuing mining at even deeper levels past 2020.

Rio will seek to redeploy the more than 450 staff and contractors at the mine to its other operations as the mine winds down.

Some staff will remain to help with the rehabilitation of the site, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollar over several decades.

Source: thewest