The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is reopening its New York grading laboratory Monday following a three-month shutdown due to the coronavirus.
“As restrictions are lifted and the global gem and jewelry industry begins to recover, we are safely reopening GIA locations, returning staff to work and preparing to engage in our mission-driven activities,” GIA CEO Susan Jacques said Thursday. “We are strictly following government regulations and guidelines, implementing new processes, and adapting our facilities to keep everyone who comes to GIA — staff, clients, students and visitors — healthy and safe.”
With the 47th Street venue back in action, all 11 of the GIA’s laboratories will have unlocked their doors. The 10 other sites are steadily increasing their hours and adding extra shifts to meet growing demand for their services, the GIA said.
Meanwhile, its gemological schools in Taipei and Hong Kong are open, and all other GIA educational centers will welcome back on-campus students “in the near future,” it said.
The organization closed most of its sites in March as the virus spread, and gradually reopened them as lockdown restrictions eased. It will continue to monitor local-government and health rules in each location and adjust its services as necessary.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is reopening its New York grading laboratory Monday following a three-month shutdown due to the coronavirus.
“As restrictions are lifted and the global gem and jewelry industry begins to recover, we are safely reopening GIA locations, returning staff to work and preparing to engage in our mission-driven activities,” GIA CEO Susan Jacques said Thursday. “We are strictly following government regulations and guidelines, implementing new processes, and adapting our facilities to keep everyone who comes to GIA — staff, clients, students and visitors — healthy and safe.”
With the 47th Street venue back in action, all 11 of the GIA’s laboratories will have unlocked their doors. The 10 other sites are steadily increasing their hours and adding extra shifts to meet growing demand for their services, the GIA said.
Meanwhile, its gemological schools in Taipei and Hong Kong are open, and all other GIA educational centers will welcome back on-campus students “in the near future,” it said.
The organization closed most of its sites in March as the virus spread, and gradually reopened them as lockdown restrictions eased. It will continue to monitor local-government and health rules in each location and adjust its services as necessary.
Financially troubled Petra Diamonds, which owns three diamond mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, is putting itself up for sale.
Founded in 1997, Petra owns the Finsch, Cullinan, and Koffiefontein mines in South Africa, as well as the Williamson mine in Tanzania, which is currently under care and maintenance. All those properties were purchased from their original owner, De Beers.
Bidders can express interest in all or part of its assets. Rothschild & Co. is acting as strategic adviser of the transaction. So far, no offers have been received.
In March, the company launched a strategic review of its finances, particularly looking at the $650 million outstanding 7.25% senior secured notes that are due for repayment on May 1, 2022.
In its most recent financial results, for the third quarter ending March 31, revenue fell 32%, due in part to weak sales at its March tender, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petra is not the only miner having trouble in the age of COVID-19. In April, Dominion Diamond filed for insolvency protection in Canada.
Financially troubled Petra Diamonds, which owns three diamond mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, is putting itself up for sale.
Founded in 1997, Petra owns the Finsch, Cullinan, and Koffiefontein mines in South Africa, as well as the Williamson mine in Tanzania, which is currently under care and maintenance. All those properties were purchased from their original owner, De Beers.
Bidders can express interest in all or part of its assets. Rothschild & Co. is acting as strategic adviser of the transaction. So far, no offers have been received.
In March, the company launched a strategic review of its finances, particularly looking at the $650 million outstanding 7.25% senior secured notes that are due for repayment on May 1, 2022.
In its most recent financial results, for the third quarter ending March 31, revenue fell 32%, due in part to weak sales at its March tender, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petra is not the only miner having trouble in the age of COVID-19. In April, Dominion Diamond filed for insolvency protection in Canada.
The famous Cullinan diamond, which is now the centrepiece of the British Crown Jewels, likely originated in Earth’s lower mantle, right beneath the rigid and stable continental plates, where the mantle is slowly moving or convecting.
The finding is part of ongoing research carried out by Evan Smith and Wuyi Wang at the Gemological Institute of America. The new insight was presented by Smith at the virtual 2020 Goldschmidt Conference organized by US-based Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry.
Smith and his team concluded that the Cullinan diamond was likely formed in the lower mantle and can be considered a ‘super-deep’ stone after examining an analog, large 124-carat diamond from Gem Diamonds’ (LON: GEMD) Letšeng mine in Lesotho.
According to the researchers, recent analyses of this walnut-sized diamond revealed that it contains remains of an important element: bridgmanite.
The Cullinan II or the Second Star of Africa, a diamond that weighs 317.4 carats, is mounted in the Imperial State Crown.
“Finding these remnants of the elusive mineral bridgmanite is significant. It’s very common in the deep Earth, at the extreme pressure conditions of the lower mantle, below a depth of 660 kilometres, even deeper than most super-deep diamonds,” Smith said in his presentation. “Bridgmanite doesn’t exist in the upper mantle, or at the surface. What we actually see in the diamonds when they reach the surface is not bridgmanite, but the minerals left when it breaks down as the pressure decreases. Finding these minerals trapped in a diamond means that the diamond itself must have crystallized at a depth where bridgmanite exists, very deep within the Earth.”
By aiming a laser at the tiny inclusions trapped inside the diamond, the researchers found that the way the light scattered (using a Raman spectrometer) was characteristic of bridgmanite breakdown products.
The Letšeng mine diamond is so pure that it doesn’t contain nitrogen in its crystal structure. This characteristic classifies it as a ‘Clippir’ diamond, which is the same category as that of the Cullinan diamond.
“What is special about this one is that it is the first Clippir diamond for which we can firmly assign a lower mantle origin, that is, below 660 kilometres,” Smith said. “Previously, we had known that Clippir diamonds are super-deep and speculated that their depth of origin might span 360 to 750 kilometres depth, but we hadn’t actually seen any that were definitely from the deeper end of this window.”
In the researcher’s view, this finding gives a better idea of exactly where Clippir diamonds come from and also shows that there is some overlap in the birthplace for Clippir diamonds and type IIb diamonds, such as the famous Hope diamond. This rare blue gem was owned by monarchs, bankers, heiresses and thieves until it landed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.
The overlap that Smith refers to points to a previous study in which the researcher showed that the Hope and other IIb diamonds originate in Earth’s deep mantle and that the boron that gives them a blue hue comes from the bottom of the oceans. To get into the diamond, the element is first dragged hundreds of kilometres by plate tectonics down into the mantle.
“It shows that there is a gigantic recycling route that brings elements from Earth’s surface down into the Earth, and then occasionally returns beautiful diamonds to the surface, as passengers in volcanic eruptions,” Smith said.
The famous Cullinan diamond, which is now the centrepiece of the British Crown Jewels, likely originated in Earth’s lower mantle, right beneath the rigid and stable continental plates, where the mantle is slowly moving or convecting.
The finding is part of ongoing research carried out by Evan Smith and Wuyi Wang at the Gemological Institute of America. The new insight was presented by Smith at the virtual 2020 Goldschmidt Conference organized by US-based Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry.
Smith and his team concluded that the Cullinan diamond was likely formed in the lower mantle and can be considered a ‘super-deep’ stone after examining an analog, large 124-carat diamond from Gem Diamonds’ (LON: GEMD) Letšeng mine in Lesotho.
According to the researchers, recent analyses of this walnut-sized diamond revealed that it contains remains of an important element: bridgmanite.
The Cullinan II or the Second Star of Africa, a diamond that weighs 317.4 carats, is mounted in the Imperial State Crown.
“Finding these remnants of the elusive mineral bridgmanite is significant. It’s very common in the deep Earth, at the extreme pressure conditions of the lower mantle, below a depth of 660 kilometres, even deeper than most super-deep diamonds,” Smith said in his presentation. “Bridgmanite doesn’t exist in the upper mantle, or at the surface. What we actually see in the diamonds when they reach the surface is not bridgmanite, but the minerals left when it breaks down as the pressure decreases. Finding these minerals trapped in a diamond means that the diamond itself must have crystallized at a depth where bridgmanite exists, very deep within the Earth.”
By aiming a laser at the tiny inclusions trapped inside the diamond, the researchers found that the way the light scattered (using a Raman spectrometer) was characteristic of bridgmanite breakdown products.
The Letšeng mine diamond is so pure that it doesn’t contain nitrogen in its crystal structure. This characteristic classifies it as a ‘Clippir’ diamond, which is the same category as that of the Cullinan diamond.
“What is special about this one is that it is the first Clippir diamond for which we can firmly assign a lower mantle origin, that is, below 660 kilometres,” Smith said. “Previously, we had known that Clippir diamonds are super-deep and speculated that their depth of origin might span 360 to 750 kilometres depth, but we hadn’t actually seen any that were definitely from the deeper end of this window.”
In the researcher’s view, this finding gives a better idea of exactly where Clippir diamonds come from and also shows that there is some overlap in the birthplace for Clippir diamonds and type IIb diamonds, such as the famous Hope diamond. This rare blue gem was owned by monarchs, bankers, heiresses and thieves until it landed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.
The overlap that Smith refers to points to a previous study in which the researcher showed that the Hope and other IIb diamonds originate in Earth’s deep mantle and that the boron that gives them a blue hue comes from the bottom of the oceans. To get into the diamond, the element is first dragged hundreds of kilometres by plate tectonics down into the mantle.
“It shows that there is a gigantic recycling route that brings elements from Earth’s surface down into the Earth, and then occasionally returns beautiful diamonds to the surface, as passengers in volcanic eruptions,” Smith said.
A 3.01-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond ring, carrying a high estimate of $6.3 million was among a number of headline items that failed to find buyers at Sotheby’s Geneva auction.
Sotheby’s withdrew the stone from Tuesday’s Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels Part II at the request of the consigner, it told Rapaport News Wednesday. The sale, which achieved a total of $12.4 million, was the auction house’s first live event since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and followed Part I, which took place online.
An oval-shaped, 21.56-carat, D-color, VVS1-clarity diamond ring by Lorraine Schwartz, valued at $1.5 million to $2 million, also went unsold. Other colored diamonds were not purchased, including a duet ring set with a pear-shaped, 3.03-carat, fancy-intense-blue diamond and a pear-shaped, 2.82-carat, D-color, VVS1-clarity diamond, as well as a step-cut, fancy-vivid-yellow diamond ring weighing 16.43 carats.
Meanwhile, the top-selling lot at the sale was a marquise-shaped, 7-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond ring, which was auctioned for the first time after spending 30 years in a private collection. The piece sold for $2.8 million, within its $2.4 million to $3.4 million estimate.
Other notable items included a pear-shaped, 5.29-carat, fancy-grey-blue diamond ring, which garnered $2.1 million, beating its $1.2 million high estimate. A pair of cushion-shaped, D-color, VVS2-clarity diamond earrings, weighing 13.50 carats and 13.52 carats, fetched $1.5 million against an estimate of $1.2 million to $1.8 million.
Sapphires also proved popular, with a cushion-shaped, 105.89-carat ring going for $1.7 million, more than double its $670,000 high estimate. A cushion-shaped, 16.11-carat sapphire ring bracketed by diamonds also sailed past its $490,000 upper valuation, achieving $524,000.
