De Beers Can Do More, Botswana Group Says

A Botswana employers’ advocacy group has called out De Beers for failing to provide substantial opportunities for the country’s businesspeople.

“The benefits deriving from the diamond industry have unfortunately not been enjoyed by Batswana entrepreneurs,” Gobusamang Keebine, president of Business Botswana, said in a speech during the fifth regional High Level Consultative Conference (HLCC) in Francistown on Saturday. A transcript was posted on the Botswana government’s Facebook page.

“[De Beers] has done very little to add to economic activity in Botswana and improve Batswana business participation in the industry,” he stressed.

De Beers is about to start negotiations on a new supply and marketing agreement with the Botswana government, as the current contract expires in 2020. While the sales partnership between the two has created more than 3,600 jobs for local citizens, the bulk of those were lower-level positions, and there has been little change over the years, Keebine noted.

The current 10-year agreement from 2011 led De Beers to relocate its sorting and sales operations from London to Gaborone – a move that failed to offer prospects for local entrepreneurs, Keebine claimed. The miner should learn from Chinese businesses operating in Botswana’s construction center, who have been transferring their skills to locals, he urged.

Keebine also took aim at Okavango Diamond Company, which was created in 2012 to sell 15% of local mining company Debswana’s production on behalf of the government. While Okavango is operating as a commercial entity, it doesn’t promote beneficiation and citizen empowerment, he said.

Business Botswana has asked the government to allow it to participate in negotiations with De Beers, as the company’s supply agreement is up for renewal in 2020. “It is imperative that a greater sense of urgency is given to reforms that will ensure that Batswana entrepreneurs are able to benefit,” Keebine added.

A De Beers spokesperson dismissed the critique, arguing that the company leads the industry in terms of developing prospects for local entrepreneurs.

“De Beers Group has a long and proud history of creating value and opportunities for Batswana and we will continue to do so,” David Johnson, head of strategic communications for De Beers, told Rapaport News Monday. “Our beneficiation approach is underpinned by a system…that creates the most value in [the] country by skills transfer and local rough-diamond utilization.”

The relocation of the company’s sightholder sales to Gaborone has had a significant positive impact on the country as well, Johnson points out. “[It] has been instrumental in developing Batswana professionals in key business management roles.”

The miner supports a number of initiatives which benefit the country’s professionals as well, including a leadership program with the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Tokafala enterprise development program, which offers small, micro and medium-sized businesses mentoring and access to market; and a partnership with UN Women to support female entrepreneurs, Johnson added.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Can Do More, Botswana Group Says

A Botswana employers’ advocacy group has called out De Beers for failing to provide substantial opportunities for the country’s businesspeople.

“The benefits deriving from the diamond industry have unfortunately not been enjoyed by Batswana entrepreneurs,” Gobusamang Keebine, president of Business Botswana, said in a speech during the fifth regional High Level Consultative Conference (HLCC) in Francistown on Saturday. A transcript was posted on the Botswana government’s Facebook page.

“[De Beers] has done very little to add to economic activity in Botswana and improve Batswana business participation in the industry,” he stressed.

De Beers is about to start negotiations on a new supply and marketing agreement with the Botswana government, as the current contract expires in 2020. While the sales partnership between the two has created more than 3,600 jobs for local citizens, the bulk of those were lower-level positions, and there has been little change over the years, Keebine noted.

The current 10-year agreement from 2011 led De Beers to relocate its sorting and sales operations from London to Gaborone – a move that failed to offer prospects for local entrepreneurs, Keebine claimed. The miner should learn from Chinese businesses operating in Botswana’s construction center, who have been transferring their skills to locals, he urged.

Keebine also took aim at Okavango Diamond Company, which was created in 2012 to sell 15% of local mining company Debswana’s production on behalf of the government. While Okavango is operating as a commercial entity, it doesn’t promote beneficiation and citizen empowerment, he said.

Business Botswana has asked the government to allow it to participate in negotiations with De Beers, as the company’s supply agreement is up for renewal in 2020. “It is imperative that a greater sense of urgency is given to reforms that will ensure that Batswana entrepreneurs are able to benefit,” Keebine added.

A De Beers spokesperson dismissed the critique, arguing that the company leads the industry in terms of developing prospects for local entrepreneurs.

“De Beers Group has a long and proud history of creating value and opportunities for Batswana and we will continue to do so,” David Johnson, head of strategic communications for De Beers, told Rapaport News Monday. “Our beneficiation approach is underpinned by a system…that creates the most value in [the] country by skills transfer and local rough-diamond utilization.”

The relocation of the company’s sightholder sales to Gaborone has had a significant positive impact on the country as well, Johnson points out. “[It] has been instrumental in developing Batswana professionals in key business management roles.”

The miner supports a number of initiatives which benefit the country’s professionals as well, including a leadership program with the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Tokafala enterprise development program, which offers small, micro and medium-sized businesses mentoring and access to market; and a partnership with UN Women to support female entrepreneurs, Johnson added.

Source: DCLA

HRD Antwerp opens new drop-off point in Hatton Garden

HRD Antwerp has expanded into the UK market with the opening of a new drop-off point in London’s jewellery quarter.

According to the diamond certification firm, the supply if lab-grown diamonds is ever increasing, and this is resulting in jewellers unknowingly selling jewellery which features a mix of natural and man-made stones. To help combat this, HRD Antwerp has introduced a new service for jewellery grading.

The new London drop-off point will give UK jewellers easy access to HRD Antwerp’s services, including jewellery and diamond grading reports at very competitive rates. The comprehensive grading report will provide jewellers with peace of mind, reassuring them that all of their diamonds are indeed natural, and not laboratory grown.

“There are increasing amounts of laboratory grown diamonds available on the market,” says HRD Antwerp commercial director, David Ziegler. “In an industry where so much relies on trust, it’s essential that you safeguard your reputation by certifying that all of your diamonds are natural and untreated.

A cost-effective grading report from HRD Antwerp is the most trusted and efficient way of ensuring all of your unmounted and mounted diamonds are 100% natural.”

The new drop-off point in London is designed to be convenient and easy to use. Loose diamonds and diamond jewellery can be brought or shipped to the London drop-off point. The diamonds are then sent to HRD Antwerp’s grading lab for comprehensive testing and grading, before being returned to London.

Each unmounted diamond will be accompanied by a grading report which clearly specifies that the diamond is natural, and rates it against the 4Cs. Each diamond jewellery piece will be issued with a unique grading report specifying the same.

Source: DCLA

HRD Antwerp opens new drop-off point in Hatton Garden

HRD Antwerp has expanded into the UK market with the opening of a new drop-off point in London’s jewellery quarter.

According to the diamond certification firm, the supply if lab-grown diamonds is ever increasing, and this is resulting in jewellers unknowingly selling jewellery which features a mix of natural and man-made stones. To help combat this, HRD Antwerp has introduced a new service for jewellery grading.

The new London drop-off point will give UK jewellers easy access to HRD Antwerp’s services, including jewellery and diamond grading reports at very competitive rates. The comprehensive grading report will provide jewellers with peace of mind, reassuring them that all of their diamonds are indeed natural, and not laboratory grown.

“There are increasing amounts of laboratory grown diamonds available on the market,” says HRD Antwerp commercial director, David Ziegler. “In an industry where so much relies on trust, it’s essential that you safeguard your reputation by certifying that all of your diamonds are natural and untreated.

A cost-effective grading report from HRD Antwerp is the most trusted and efficient way of ensuring all of your unmounted and mounted diamonds are 100% natural.”

The new drop-off point in London is designed to be convenient and easy to use. Loose diamonds and diamond jewellery can be brought or shipped to the London drop-off point. The diamonds are then sent to HRD Antwerp’s grading lab for comprehensive testing and grading, before being returned to London.

Each unmounted diamond will be accompanied by a grading report which clearly specifies that the diamond is natural, and rates it against the 4Cs. Each diamond jewellery piece will be issued with a unique grading report specifying the same.

Source: DCLA

US Polished Imports Slump in April

The US polished diamond trade slowed in April, with imports declining and exports stable.

The drop in import value reflects both a lower volume and average price.

Polished imports volumes 682,140 carats -9% Average price of polished imports $2,193/carat -12%

The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is a net importer of polished.

As such, net polished imports representing polished imports minus polished exports will usually be a positive number.

Net rough imports calculated as rough imports minus rough exports will also generally be in surplus.

The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a manufacturing sector, so normally ships more rough in than out.

The net diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports.

It is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by importing and ultimately consuming diamonds.

Source: DCLA

US Polished Imports Slump in April

The US polished diamond trade slowed in April, with imports declining and exports stable.

The drop in import value reflects both a lower volume and average price.

Polished imports volumes 682,140 carats -9% Average price of polished imports $2,193/carat -12%

The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is a net importer of polished.

As such, net polished imports representing polished imports minus polished exports will usually be a positive number.

Net rough imports calculated as rough imports minus rough exports will also generally be in surplus.

The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a manufacturing sector, so normally ships more rough in than out.

The net diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports.

It is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by importing and ultimately consuming diamonds.

Source: DCLA

Lab grown diamond technology is disrupting the diamond business

Lab-grown diamonds that producers say have all the characteristics of the ones that were formed deep in the Earth naturally are finding a place in the market. The Robb Report estimates that lab-grown diamonds sales will reach $420 million this year. That’s almost 3% of the $14 billion annual diamond market.

Spence Diamonds, a 40-year-old Canadian fine jeweler, has expanded into lab-grown diamonds and is opening stores in the U.S., including three in Texas: West Village in Uptown Dallas, Legacy West in Plano and The Domain in Austin.

Government regulators and industry groups are all over the topic.

In April, the Federal Trade Commission searched through diamond jewelry ads and on social media to see what shoppers were being told.

The agency found eight businesses using ads that could be deceptive or not in line with its jewelry guides. Spence Diamonds was not one of those.

Earlier, the FTC had removed the word “synthetic” from lab-grown diamonds but told jewelers that they must specify clearly to shoppers that the diamonds are lab-grown. And jewelers must use a different scale than they do for Earth-mined diamonds.

At the Spence store in the West Village, 500 bridal settings are displayed in traditional glass cases, but they’re open. The rings have glass stones, so shoppers can try on all they want without being watched or having to wait for someone to help them.

Lab-grown diamonds are priced lower. Spence sells a mined 1.5 carat diamond solitaire ring for $12,179 and one with a lab-grown 2.3 carat diamond for $10,739.

“We’re aware that the U.S. and Dallas is saturated with jewelry stores, but we love how we are positioned,” said Veeral Rathod, Spence Diamonds’ CEO and the former CEO and co-founder of Dallas-based J. Hilburn. He joined the Vancouver-based company in September.

Spence will make any engagement ring, either in one of its 3,000 settings or a special design brought in by the customer and make it out of either mined or lab-grown diamonds. That’s also true with stud earrings, he said, and the jewelry can be customized to fit the shopper’s budget.

Why is this happening? Some consumers are drawn to them over environmental or political concerns.

Others simply prefer a bigger stone for less money.

“Technology and science has made it possible, and the FTC has confirmed that they are chemically and physically the same,” Rathod said. “We just have to be sure the customer knows what they’re buying, and let the consumer make an informed decision.”

Source: DCLA