A million rough diamonds seized in raids by the Indian tax authorities on the scanning firm Diyora & Bhanderi are to be returned to their owners.
The company is being investigated over claims of tax evasion and the illegal sale of diamond scanning machines. Its premises in Surat were raided 10 days ago.
Gems belonging to over 800 diamond firms, which had been sent to Diyora & Bhanderi Corporation (DBC) for rough scanning, were seized, along with large quantities of cash.
The Surat income tax authorities responded on Friday to representations by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry that diamantaires should have their gems returned, as long as they can provide the proper paperwork.
Meanwhile, Sarine, the Israel-based diamond tech firm, accuses DBC of copying the industry-standard Galaxy inclusion mapping software used by its rough diamond scanning machines and is taking action through the High Court of Gujarat, in Ahmedabad.
A million rough diamonds seized in raids by the Indian tax authorities on the scanning firm Diyora & Bhanderi are to be returned to their owners.
The company is being investigated over claims of tax evasion and the illegal sale of diamond scanning machines. Its premises in Surat were raided 10 days ago.
Gems belonging to over 800 diamond firms, which had been sent to Diyora & Bhanderi Corporation (DBC) for rough scanning, were seized, along with large quantities of cash.
The Surat income tax authorities responded on Friday to representations by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry that diamantaires should have their gems returned, as long as they can provide the proper paperwork.
Meanwhile, Sarine, the Israel-based diamond tech firm, accuses DBC of copying the industry-standard Galaxy inclusion mapping software used by its rough diamond scanning machines and is taking action through the High Court of Gujarat, in Ahmedabad.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has uncovered three synthetic moissanites with forged inscriptions that fraudsters had used to misrepresent them as natural diamonds.
The cases at the Johannesburg laboratory marked the first times the GIA had discovered fake girdle inscriptions on diamond simulants, it said in a recent article in its academic journal, Gems & Gemology.
The lab initially received a round brilliant, 1.02-carat stone for a diamond-grading report. The report number on the girdle was for an E-color natural diamond with the same weight that was graded in 2019, but the dimensions were different because moissanite has lower specific gravity, meaning that it weighs less relative to its volume.
Standard testing showed the stone was not a diamond, while subsequent spectroscopic and gemological analysis proved it was synthetic moissanite, GIA researchers wrote in the fall 2020 edition of Gems & Gemology, which it released last week.
“The possibility exists that a consumer could purchase this simulant thinking it was a natural diamond, especially with a deliberately misleading inscription,” wrote Sicebiso Hlatshwayo, a supervisor of diamond grading at the GIA in Johannesburg, and Sally Eaton-Magaña, senior manager of diamond identification at the GIA in Carlsbad, California.
Since writing the article about the first stone, the same lab in South Africa received and identified two more synthetic moissanites with fraudulent inscriptions, the GIA added in a note.
In addition to the size discrepancy, the first stone’s clarity was equivalent to VVS2 (the GIA doesn’t usually give moissanite a grade of this type), whereas the diamond it was impersonating was VVS1. The inscription’s font was also distinctly different from the GIA’s standard one. The GIA obscured the fraudulent inscription, in line with its usual practice.
People sometimes mistake synthetic moissanite for diamond because some of their properties are similar, such as their hardness and thermal conductivity, the gemologists explained. The latter feature is often a method of distinguishing diamonds from simulant, but it can fail if the stone is moissanite.
However, the stone showed “double refraction” — a feature of moissanite, absent in diamonds, that gives it more brilliance.
Another key difference between the materials is dispersion, the GIA pointed out. Moissanite has higher dispersion, meaning light that enters the stone is refracted more. The eye, therefore, sees a more distinct range of colors, giving it more “fire” than diamonds.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has uncovered three synthetic moissanites with forged inscriptions that fraudsters had used to misrepresent them as natural diamonds.
The cases at the Johannesburg laboratory marked the first times the GIA had discovered fake girdle inscriptions on diamond simulants, it said in a recent article in its academic journal, Gems & Gemology.
The lab initially received a round brilliant, 1.02-carat stone for a diamond-grading report. The report number on the girdle was for an E-color natural diamond with the same weight that was graded in 2019, but the dimensions were different because moissanite has lower specific gravity, meaning that it weighs less relative to its volume.
Standard testing showed the stone was not a diamond, while subsequent spectroscopic and gemological analysis proved it was synthetic moissanite, GIA researchers wrote in the fall 2020 edition of Gems & Gemology, which it released last week.
“The possibility exists that a consumer could purchase this simulant thinking it was a natural diamond, especially with a deliberately misleading inscription,” wrote Sicebiso Hlatshwayo, a supervisor of diamond grading at the GIA in Johannesburg, and Sally Eaton-Magaña, senior manager of diamond identification at the GIA in Carlsbad, California.
Since writing the article about the first stone, the same lab in South Africa received and identified two more synthetic moissanites with fraudulent inscriptions, the GIA added in a note.
In addition to the size discrepancy, the first stone’s clarity was equivalent to VVS2 (the GIA doesn’t usually give moissanite a grade of this type), whereas the diamond it was impersonating was VVS1. The inscription’s font was also distinctly different from the GIA’s standard one. The GIA obscured the fraudulent inscription, in line with its usual practice.
People sometimes mistake synthetic moissanite for diamond because some of their properties are similar, such as their hardness and thermal conductivity, the gemologists explained. The latter feature is often a method of distinguishing diamonds from simulant, but it can fail if the stone is moissanite.
However, the stone showed “double refraction” — a feature of moissanite, absent in diamonds, that gives it more brilliance.
Another key difference between the materials is dispersion, the GIA pointed out. Moissanite has higher dispersion, meaning light that enters the stone is refracted more. The eye, therefore, sees a more distinct range of colors, giving it more “fire” than diamonds.
After a devastating 2020 which saw a near-collapse in the global diamond trade, Mountain Province Diamonds‘ latest sales figures show the sparkle may be starting to return to the diamond sector.
The 49% owner of the Gahcho Kué mine in the Northwest Territories, operated by 51% owner De Beers, sold 241,827 carats of diamonds for $21.8 million or $90 per carat in the sale, which closed on Jan. 22 in Antwerp. That represents an encouraging increase from an average sales price of $64 per carat in the final quarter of 2020 and $37 per carat in the third quarter.
“The first sale of the year was excellent, the growing confidence amongst rough diamond buyers translated into a healthy price improvement of 8% on a like for like basis when compared to our record high volume December sale,” said Mountain Province president and CEO, Stuart Brown, in a release. “We expect to see a continuation of the positive trend as rough and polished markets continue to strengthen post a successful retail season.”
The company’s next sale, in February, will include the 157-carat “Polaris” gem diamond, recovered in the fourth quarter. Named after the North Star, the stone appears colourless in daylight, but under ultraviolet light “exhibits a rare natural blue fluorescence that echoes its Arctic origins.”
Mountain Province recently released its production and sales results for the fourth quarter. Two confirmed cases of covid-19 during the quarter affected production as existing health and safety precautions were further enhanced. For the quarter, the operation saw a 12% decrease in total tonnes mined (ore and waste), a 21% decrease in tonnes treated (to 736,140 tonnes), and a 23% decline in carats recovered (to 1.5 million carats).
Mountain Province’s share of fourth-quarter production was nearly 745,600 carats.
For the year, the company recorded total sales of 3.3 million diamonds at an average price of $51 per carat for C$227 million ($171.3 million) in revenue.
“Under very difficult circumstances, all driven by Covid-19, the Gahcho Kué mine has performed well in being able to maintain production, albeit at a reduced level, and came very close to the revised guidance in tonnes mined and treated and exceeded the revised guidance target for carats recovered,” Brown said earlier this month on the release of the production figures. He added that the carat recovery was “particularly pleasing under the circumstances” and positioned the company for positive sales numbers in the first quarter of 2021.
Brown said that the last quarter of the year saw a “strong recovery” in the diamond market. In addition, the late 2020 closure of Rio Tinto‘s high-volume Argyle mine in Australia is expected to help establish a “more balanced” supply and demand equilibrium.
“The diamond market came under unprecedented pressure from early March to early September and although this pressure remains, we did see a strong recovery with respect to rough diamond demand in the last quarter of the year,” Brown said. “The two sales during the last quarter saw significant price recovery across all categories of diamonds sold. Early diamond jewelry retail sales reports are encouraging, and we expect to see steady demand for rough diamonds in the first quarter of 2021. There will no doubt still be challenges ahead but we are certainly more positive in our outlook as we start 2021 compared to the middle of 2020.”
After a devastating 2020 which saw a near-collapse in the global diamond trade, Mountain Province Diamonds‘ latest sales figures show the sparkle may be starting to return to the diamond sector.
The 49% owner of the Gahcho Kué mine in the Northwest Territories, operated by 51% owner De Beers, sold 241,827 carats of diamonds for $21.8 million or $90 per carat in the sale, which closed on Jan. 22 in Antwerp. That represents an encouraging increase from an average sales price of $64 per carat in the final quarter of 2020 and $37 per carat in the third quarter.
“The first sale of the year was excellent, the growing confidence amongst rough diamond buyers translated into a healthy price improvement of 8% on a like for like basis when compared to our record high volume December sale,” said Mountain Province president and CEO, Stuart Brown, in a release. “We expect to see a continuation of the positive trend as rough and polished markets continue to strengthen post a successful retail season.”
The company’s next sale, in February, will include the 157-carat “Polaris” gem diamond, recovered in the fourth quarter. Named after the North Star, the stone appears colourless in daylight, but under ultraviolet light “exhibits a rare natural blue fluorescence that echoes its Arctic origins.”
Mountain Province recently released its production and sales results for the fourth quarter. Two confirmed cases of covid-19 during the quarter affected production as existing health and safety precautions were further enhanced. For the quarter, the operation saw a 12% decrease in total tonnes mined (ore and waste), a 21% decrease in tonnes treated (to 736,140 tonnes), and a 23% decline in carats recovered (to 1.5 million carats).
Mountain Province’s share of fourth-quarter production was nearly 745,600 carats.
For the year, the company recorded total sales of 3.3 million diamonds at an average price of $51 per carat for C$227 million ($171.3 million) in revenue.
“Under very difficult circumstances, all driven by Covid-19, the Gahcho Kué mine has performed well in being able to maintain production, albeit at a reduced level, and came very close to the revised guidance in tonnes mined and treated and exceeded the revised guidance target for carats recovered,” Brown said earlier this month on the release of the production figures. He added that the carat recovery was “particularly pleasing under the circumstances” and positioned the company for positive sales numbers in the first quarter of 2021.
Brown said that the last quarter of the year saw a “strong recovery” in the diamond market. In addition, the late 2020 closure of Rio Tinto‘s high-volume Argyle mine in Australia is expected to help establish a “more balanced” supply and demand equilibrium.
“The diamond market came under unprecedented pressure from early March to early September and although this pressure remains, we did see a strong recovery with respect to rough diamond demand in the last quarter of the year,” Brown said. “The two sales during the last quarter saw significant price recovery across all categories of diamonds sold. Early diamond jewelry retail sales reports are encouraging, and we expect to see steady demand for rough diamonds in the first quarter of 2021. There will no doubt still be challenges ahead but we are certainly more positive in our outlook as we start 2021 compared to the middle of 2020.”
MARK Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation, is to finally close the book on Rockwell Diamonds, a company he chaired and which he once attempted to save from bankruptcy.
Rockwell Diamonds announced today the Canadian listing authority had revoked a cease trade order which had been issued as the company had previously failed to produce quarterly numbers with the accompanying management discussion.
The company today filed third quarter numbers and announced its intention to wind up its affairs in which a company owned by Bristow, ‘Bristco’ would mop up the interests of minority shareholders in Rockwell and put them into ‘Amalco’.
Dissenting shareholders would have their interests exchanged on a one-for-one basis for redeemable preference shares of Amalco.
The redeemable preference shares would then be immediately redeemed by Amalco in exchange for half a Canadian cent per share, payable in cash. A meeting of shareholders requiring a simple majority has been arranged for March 2.
Bristow first sought to bail out Rockwell Diamonds, which was once run by his brother, John Bristow, in 2014, in which Mark Bristow bought $1.1m in debentures. In 2016, Bristow embarked on a process of ‘fumigation’ in which he restructured the firm’s board and conducted an overview of its operating activities.
Unfortunately, the company never managed to gain traction at its key asset, the 200,000 cubic metres a month Wouterspan, situated in the alluvial diamond fields region of the Northern Cape province.
There was a proposed $8m recapitalisation of the company in 2017.
The company was subsequently put into liquidation proceedings following attempts by a business practitioner to save it from failure. The company was in and out of court throughout this period with claims of corruption involving contractors.
In 2019, Bristow completed the merger of his Randgold Resources with Barrick Gold, a fabulously successful transaction which as coincided with high gold prices.
