Debswana annual diamond sales jump 64%

Jwaneng, the richest diamond mine in the world by value, is Debswana’s flagship mine, contributing 60% to 70% of the company’s total revenue. 

Sales of rough diamonds by Debswana Diamond Company jumped 64% in 2021, statistics released by the Bank of Botswana showed on Monday, driven by the reopening of key global consumer markets.

The total value of Debswana’s diamond exports stood at $3.466 billion in 2021 compared with $2.120 billion in 2020, the central bank data showed.

Debswana, a joint venture between Anglo American unit De Beers and Botswana’s government, sells 75% of its output to De Beers with the balance taken up by the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.

Debswana sales fell by 30% in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand while global travel restrictions impacted trading. Since mid-2020 De Beers has shifted some of its rough diamond viewings to international diamond centres such as Antwerp to cater for customers unable to travel to Gaborone.

“Demand for rough diamonds remained robust, with positive midstream sentiment and strong demand for diamond jewellery continuing over the holiday period, particularly in the key U.S. consumer market,” Anglo American said in a production update last Thursday.

Debswana accounts for almost all Botswana’s diamond exports, with Lucara Diamond Corp’s Karowe mine being the only other operating diamond mine in the country.

Botswana gets about 30% of its revenues and 70% of its foreign exchange earnings from diamonds. The southern African country expects its economy to have grown by 9.7% in 2021, after an 8.5% contraction in 2020.

Debswana’s production increased by 35% to 22.326 million carats in 2021 from 16.559 million carats in 2020, mostly due to higher-grade ore being treated at its flagship Jwaneng mine, Anglo American said.

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds and a competitor of De Beers, reported revenue jumped by 49% to $4.2 billion last year as demand exceeded supply.

Source: DCLA

Diamond Buying And Selling Tips

 You may experience uncertainty when purchasing a diamond, particularly an engagement diamond. This is not unjustified with the increased incidence of treated diamonds, synthetic diamonds and diamond simulants, no to mention incorrectly certified or graded diamonds.

Some Quick Tips

Buy from a reputable jeweller. A reputable jeweller sells with genuine Diamond Grading Reports or Certificates.

Buy with a diamond grading report or certificate from an independent and recognised diamond grading laboratory. This ensures you have a natural, untreated diamond that has been graded accurately. DCLA is the only independent and internationally recognised laboratory in Australia.

Note that a “valuation” or “appraisal” is NOT a certificate.

Read the certificate carefully to ensure that you make an informed decision

Price comparison is only possible if you are comparing certified diamonds. Diamond Grading Reports and Certification allows you to compare prices without unknowingly sacrificing quality or natural origin.

Be cautious of “sales” which appear to be genuine but are nothing more than a large discount off an inflated price. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Be cautious of internet retailers offering a huge selection of diamonds. Often many are not available – this is a classic baiting scam.

Buy a diamond that is cold laser inscribed. This identifies the diamond and ensures you get the one described by the diamond’s report or certificate.

Do not buy your diamond overseas, buy locally. This ensures you have recourse if anything is wrong.

Diamonds are priced the same way worldwide -there are no cheap diamonds, only lower quality.

Read more: DCLA

Diamond Buying And Selling Tips

 You may experience uncertainty when purchasing a diamond, particularly an engagement diamond. This is not unjustified with the increased incidence of treated diamonds, synthetic diamonds and diamond simulants, no to mention incorrectly certified or graded diamonds.

Some Quick Tips

Buy from a reputable jeweller. A reputable jeweller sells with genuine Diamond Grading Reports or Certificates.

Buy with a diamond grading report or certificate from an independent and recognised diamond grading laboratory. This ensures you have a natural, untreated diamond that has been graded accurately. DCLA is the only independent and internationally recognised laboratory in Australia.

Note that a “valuation” or “appraisal” is NOT a certificate.

Read the certificate carefully to ensure that you make an informed decision

Price comparison is only possible if you are comparing certified diamonds. Diamond Grading Reports and Certification allows you to compare prices without unknowingly sacrificing quality or natural origin.

Be cautious of “sales” which appear to be genuine but are nothing more than a large discount off an inflated price. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Be cautious of internet retailers offering a huge selection of diamonds. Often many are not available – this is a classic baiting scam.

Buy a diamond that is cold laser inscribed. This identifies the diamond and ensures you get the one described by the diamond’s report or certificate.

Do not buy your diamond overseas, buy locally. This ensures you have recourse if anything is wrong.

Diamonds are priced the same way worldwide -there are no cheap diamonds, only lower quality.

Read more: DCLA

Yellow Gems Top a Year of Discoveries at the Crater of Diamonds

                           

By the end of summer 2021, park guests had found 255 diamonds, including four weighing over one carat. Autumn kicked off with a big surprise for one California couple, when Noreen Wredberg and her husband, of Granite Bay, visited the Crater of Diamonds for the first time.

Wredberg was walking on the north side of a central pathway through the search area on September 23 when she spotted something sparkling on top of the ground. Her find turned out to be the largest of the year, a 4.38-carat diamond about the size of a jellybean, with a pear shape and a lemonade yellow color. Wredberg named her gem after her husband’s kitten, calling it Lucy’s Diamond.

The three most common colors of diamonds found at the Crater are white, brown, and yellow. 248 diamonds registered last year were white (weighing 28.6 carats), 54 were brown (16.67 carats), and 52 were yellow (17.02 carats). Interestingly, all nine of the largest diamonds found last year were yellow or brown in color.

Source: DCLA

Yellow Gems Top a Year of Discoveries at the Crater of Diamonds

                           

By the end of summer 2021, park guests had found 255 diamonds, including four weighing over one carat. Autumn kicked off with a big surprise for one California couple, when Noreen Wredberg and her husband, of Granite Bay, visited the Crater of Diamonds for the first time.

Wredberg was walking on the north side of a central pathway through the search area on September 23 when she spotted something sparkling on top of the ground. Her find turned out to be the largest of the year, a 4.38-carat diamond about the size of a jellybean, with a pear shape and a lemonade yellow color. Wredberg named her gem after her husband’s kitten, calling it Lucy’s Diamond.

The three most common colors of diamonds found at the Crater are white, brown, and yellow. 248 diamonds registered last year were white (weighing 28.6 carats), 54 were brown (16.67 carats), and 52 were yellow (17.02 carats). Interestingly, all nine of the largest diamonds found last year were yellow or brown in color.

Source: DCLA

Influential Large-Stone Expert Johnny Kneller Dies

                                    

Johnny Kneller

The diamond industry lost one of its most respected experts in large stones with the passing of Johnny Kneller last week at age 75.

Together with Brian Gutkin and Laurence Graff, Kneller was a partner in the manufacturing firm Safdico, where he handled some of the world’s most famous diamonds. Those included the Lesotho Promise, the Peace Diamond, and the Lesedi La Rona, his son-in-law Yves Alexis noted.

“He was an icon in the industry,” Gutkin stressed. “People sought his advice on large stones, colored diamonds, D-flawlesses because he had a unique understanding of these goods.”

And he was always happy to give of himself, Gutkin added. “It was impossible to walk with him through the Antwerp bourse, as people would gravitate toward him. Everyone loved him.”

Born in Prague, then in Czechoslovakia, in 1946, Kneller grew up in Antwerp and eased into the diamond trade through his father, who was a diamantaire and a De Beers sightholder specializing in large stones. Kneller also worked as a dealer and started traveling to South Africa to buy polished in the early 1980s. During that time, he met Gutkin and the two formed a partnership that became Safdico, Gutkin recalled.

Starting with only seven people, the company grew to become one of the most consistent sightholders for large goods. At its peak, Safdico employed 237 people at its Johannesburg factory and 120 in Botswana, according to Gutkin.

Kneller was extremely savvy in business and not averse to taking calculated risks, Gutkin and Alexis agreed. It was his initiative around 1998 to bring on board Graff, with whom he had a relationship and who had traded diamonds with Kneller’s father. The partnership made Safdico one of the first diamond manufacturers to forge an alliance with an established high-end jeweler.

“Johnny Kneller was a best friend as well as my business partner in our diamond-manufacturing business.” Graff wrote in a tribute provided to Rapaport News. “A man that put all others before himself, we were friends for 50 years and traveled together to Belgium, Africa and the US — and of course to many of the diamond sights.”

Kneller’s knowledge of the rough and polished diamond business was almost unmatched, Graff continued. “He had an uncanny way of discovering gems, in rough or polished, which ended up in our retail stores across the world,” he added.

Kneller’s eye for fine gems extended to art as well. He was a keen collector of contemporary works and had a solid background across many periods — a passion he shared with Graff.

But it was ultimately his expertise and love of diamonds that set him apart within the trade. “He really loved the stones, the material, to see the color [and] appreciate the cut, life and sparkle of the stones,” Alexis recalled.

His business partners echoed that sentiment.

“He lived and breathed diamonds all his life,” Graff concluded. “For me he was the greatest diamond dealer I have ever known.”

Kneller is survived by his wife, Delly, two daughters Katya and Julie, and six grandchildren.

Source: DCLA

Influential Large-Stone Expert Johnny Kneller Dies

                                    

Johnny Kneller

The diamond industry lost one of its most respected experts in large stones with the passing of Johnny Kneller last week at age 75.

Together with Brian Gutkin and Laurence Graff, Kneller was a partner in the manufacturing firm Safdico, where he handled some of the world’s most famous diamonds. Those included the Lesotho Promise, the Peace Diamond, and the Lesedi La Rona, his son-in-law Yves Alexis noted.

“He was an icon in the industry,” Gutkin stressed. “People sought his advice on large stones, colored diamonds, D-flawlesses because he had a unique understanding of these goods.”

And he was always happy to give of himself, Gutkin added. “It was impossible to walk with him through the Antwerp bourse, as people would gravitate toward him. Everyone loved him.”

Born in Prague, then in Czechoslovakia, in 1946, Kneller grew up in Antwerp and eased into the diamond trade through his father, who was a diamantaire and a De Beers sightholder specializing in large stones. Kneller also worked as a dealer and started traveling to South Africa to buy polished in the early 1980s. During that time, he met Gutkin and the two formed a partnership that became Safdico, Gutkin recalled.

Starting with only seven people, the company grew to become one of the most consistent sightholders for large goods. At its peak, Safdico employed 237 people at its Johannesburg factory and 120 in Botswana, according to Gutkin.

Kneller was extremely savvy in business and not averse to taking calculated risks, Gutkin and Alexis agreed. It was his initiative around 1998 to bring on board Graff, with whom he had a relationship and who had traded diamonds with Kneller’s father. The partnership made Safdico one of the first diamond manufacturers to forge an alliance with an established high-end jeweler.

“Johnny Kneller was a best friend as well as my business partner in our diamond-manufacturing business.” Graff wrote in a tribute provided to Rapaport News. “A man that put all others before himself, we were friends for 50 years and traveled together to Belgium, Africa and the US — and of course to many of the diamond sights.”

Kneller’s knowledge of the rough and polished diamond business was almost unmatched, Graff continued. “He had an uncanny way of discovering gems, in rough or polished, which ended up in our retail stores across the world,” he added.

Kneller’s eye for fine gems extended to art as well. He was a keen collector of contemporary works and had a solid background across many periods — a passion he shared with Graff.

But it was ultimately his expertise and love of diamonds that set him apart within the trade. “He really loved the stones, the material, to see the color [and] appreciate the cut, life and sparkle of the stones,” Alexis recalled.

His business partners echoed that sentiment.

“He lived and breathed diamonds all his life,” Graff concluded. “For me he was the greatest diamond dealer I have ever known.”

Kneller is survived by his wife, Delly, two daughters Katya and Julie, and six grandchildren.

Source: DCLA