Diamond sales at Lucapa total $49.5 million year-to-date

African miner Lucapa Diamond Company said yesterday its latest sales of diamonds from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola and the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho totaled $10.4 million.

Year to date sales are $45.9 million.

The average price per carat is $1,087 at the Lulo Mine. Excluded from the figures is a 46-carat pink diamond, which has been exported by SML to Antwerp and is being assessed for polishing.

At the Mothae Mine, the average price per carat was $837. The mine began operations in January. The company said the mine has already recovered seven +50 carat diamonds.

Lucapa Diamond is focused on becoming a producer of large and premium-quality diamonds from alluvial and kimberlite sources.

Source: DCLA

Diamond sales at Lucapa total $49.5 million year-to-date

African miner Lucapa Diamond Company said yesterday its latest sales of diamonds from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola and the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho totaled $10.4 million.

Year to date sales are $45.9 million.

The average price per carat is $1,087 at the Lulo Mine. Excluded from the figures is a 46-carat pink diamond, which has been exported by SML to Antwerp and is being assessed for polishing.

At the Mothae Mine, the average price per carat was $837. The mine began operations in January. The company said the mine has already recovered seven +50 carat diamonds.

Lucapa Diamond is focused on becoming a producer of large and premium-quality diamonds from alluvial and kimberlite sources.

Source: DCLA

Pink Diamond Nets $20M at Sotheby’s

A pink diamond ring was the top lot at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction this week, garnering HKD 155.8 million ($19.9 million), or $1.9 million per carat.

The cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut, 10.64-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink, internally flawless stone, set between two white trapeze diamonds, had a presale estimate of HKD 150 million to HKD 200 million ($19.1 million to 25.5 million). Total proceeds at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction came to HKD 300.8 million ($38.3 million).

A 100.02-carat, fancy-intense-yellow diamond necklace by Anna Hu, fashioned in the shape of a pipa — a Chinese musical instrument similar to a four-stringed lute — sold for HKD 45.3 million ($5.8 million) against a presale estimate of HKD 40 million to HKD 50 million ($5.1 million to $6.4 million). The necklace was one of five pieces in Hu’s Silk Road Music Collection, all of which found buyers, Sotheby’s told Rapaport News.

Meanwhile, a necklace featuring a pear-shaped, 15.08-carat diamond suspended from a row of alternating step-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds brought in HKD 9.2 million ($1.2 million). It was estimated at HKD 7.6 million to HKD 10 million ($968,860 to $1.3 million).

Three of the auction’s top lots failed to find a buyer, including an emerald-cut, 80.88-carat, D-flawless, type IIa diamond with a presale estimate of $10 million to $12.8 million, Sotheby’s added. An 11.88-carat, pigeon’s blood Burmese ruby and diamond ring by designer Raymond Yard, valued at $5.6 million to $8.2 million, and a jadeite bead necklace with a diamond clasp, estimated at $3.2 million to $4.1 million, also went unsold.

Source: DCLA

Pink Diamond Nets $20M at Sotheby’s

A pink diamond ring was the top lot at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction this week, garnering HKD 155.8 million ($19.9 million), or $1.9 million per carat.

The cut-cornered rectangular mixed-cut, 10.64-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink, internally flawless stone, set between two white trapeze diamonds, had a presale estimate of HKD 150 million to HKD 200 million ($19.1 million to 25.5 million). Total proceeds at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction came to HKD 300.8 million ($38.3 million).

A 100.02-carat, fancy-intense-yellow diamond necklace by Anna Hu, fashioned in the shape of a pipa — a Chinese musical instrument similar to a four-stringed lute — sold for HKD 45.3 million ($5.8 million) against a presale estimate of HKD 40 million to HKD 50 million ($5.1 million to $6.4 million). The necklace was one of five pieces in Hu’s Silk Road Music Collection, all of which found buyers, Sotheby’s told Rapaport News.

Meanwhile, a necklace featuring a pear-shaped, 15.08-carat diamond suspended from a row of alternating step-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds brought in HKD 9.2 million ($1.2 million). It was estimated at HKD 7.6 million to HKD 10 million ($968,860 to $1.3 million).

Three of the auction’s top lots failed to find a buyer, including an emerald-cut, 80.88-carat, D-flawless, type IIa diamond with a presale estimate of $10 million to $12.8 million, Sotheby’s added. An 11.88-carat, pigeon’s blood Burmese ruby and diamond ring by designer Raymond Yard, valued at $5.6 million to $8.2 million, and a jadeite bead necklace with a diamond clasp, estimated at $3.2 million to $4.1 million, also went unsold.

Source: DCLA

Alrosa finds Matryoshka-style stone, the first in diamond mining history

An unusual diamond with another diamond found inside was mined in Yakutia at the Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa, the Russian miner announced Friday.

Due to its peculiarity, the stone resembles a traditional Russian Matryoshka doll. According to the experts who have studied the find, this is the first such diamond in the history of global diamond mining, Alrosa said.

According to scientists, the diamond may be over 800 million years old. Despite its complex structure, it weighs only 0.62 carats.

Specialists of the Yakutsk Diamond Trade Enterprise discovered this unusual diamond during a sorting process and handed it over to the Research and Development Geological Enterprise of Alrosa.

There, it was studied using several methods, including Raman and infrared spectroscopies, as well as X-ray microtomography. Based on the results of the study, the scientists have a theory about how the crystal was formed; that there was an internal diamond at first, and the external one was formed during the subsequent stages of growth.

“The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses,” said Oleg Kovalchuk, deputy director, innovations at ALROSA’s Research and Development Geological Enterprise.

“According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the Earth’s surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it.

Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another on the principle of matryoshka nesting doll,” said Kovalchuk.

“As far as we know, there were no such diamonds in the history of global diamond mining yet.”

Source: DCLA

Alrosa finds Matryoshka-style stone, the first in diamond mining history

An unusual diamond with another diamond found inside was mined in Yakutia at the Nyurba mining and processing division of Alrosa, the Russian miner announced Friday.

Due to its peculiarity, the stone resembles a traditional Russian Matryoshka doll. According to the experts who have studied the find, this is the first such diamond in the history of global diamond mining, Alrosa said.

According to scientists, the diamond may be over 800 million years old. Despite its complex structure, it weighs only 0.62 carats.

Specialists of the Yakutsk Diamond Trade Enterprise discovered this unusual diamond during a sorting process and handed it over to the Research and Development Geological Enterprise of Alrosa.

There, it was studied using several methods, including Raman and infrared spectroscopies, as well as X-ray microtomography. Based on the results of the study, the scientists have a theory about how the crystal was formed; that there was an internal diamond at first, and the external one was formed during the subsequent stages of growth.

“The most interesting thing for us was to find out how the air space between the inner and outer diamonds was formed. We have two main hypotheses,” said Oleg Kovalchuk, deputy director, innovations at ALROSA’s Research and Development Geological Enterprise.

“According to the first version, a mantle mineral captured a diamond during its growth, and later it was dissolved in the Earth’s surface. According to the second version, a layer of porous polycrystalline diamond substance was formed inside the diamond because of ultra-fast growth, and more aggressive mantle processes subsequently dissolved it.

Due to the presence of the dissolved zone, one diamond began to move freely inside another on the principle of matryoshka nesting doll,” said Kovalchuk.

“As far as we know, there were no such diamonds in the history of global diamond mining yet.”

Source: DCLA

Petra to Hold Special Tender for 20.08-Carat Blue Diamond

Petra Diamonds will hold a special tender of the 20.08-carat blue diamond. The stone, a gem-quality Type llb diamond, was recovered from the Cullinan mine in South Africa last month.

Viewings will take place at Petra’s diamond marketing offices in Johannesburg from November 1-7 and at the Diamond and Exchange and Export Center from November 8-15.

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds could make up to $15 million for a 20.08 carat blue rough diamond it recovered in September at its iconic Cullinan mine, when it goes for sale at a planned tender in Johannesburg next month.

Investment bank Berenberg valued the “exceptional” blue gem quality diamond at between $10 and $15 million, based on prices Petra has achieved for similar roughs from Cullinan in previous years. In 2015, the miner sold “The Blue Moon of Josephine”, a 29.6 carat blue stone, for $48.5 million, marking a world record price per carat at auction for any diamond at the time.

Source: DCLA