The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued new licenses under the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, allowing for the sale of diamond jewellery and loose gem-quality diamonds imported before recent sanctions were implemented. This significant policy shift permits goods that were previously prohibited to re-enter the market.
Under the new guidelines, diamond jewellery purchased before March 1, 2024, as well as loose diamonds of 1 carat or larger bought before that date, and those of at least 0.50 carats purchased before September 1, 2024, can now be sold. The relaxation for loose diamonds will remain in effect until September 1, 2025.
However, starting September 1, 2024, the next phase of G7 diamond sanctions will impose restrictions on all goods of 0.50 carats or above from Russia, regardless of where they are cut and polished. This phase of sanctions is set to take effect next Sunday, despite substantial opposition from various industry stakeholders.
In response, the Jewelers Vigilance Committee has reported that the United States is considering supporting a delay in the implementation of these sanctions. This potential delay, which aligns with the European Union’s proposed extension to March 1, 2025, aims to provide additional time to resolve the intricacies of the sanctions and their impact on the diamond trade.
More than 110,000 Western Australian couples have celebrated a special occasion featuring a piece of Rosendorff’s fine jewellery.
An announcement to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said a meeting of creditors was set to get under way at 11am Thursday.
Richard Tucker of KordaMentha Restructuring, appointed receivers and managers of Rosendorff Diamond Jewellers, said the business was holding too much stock.
“We are running a short highly discounted sale through the store to materially reduce the current stock levels whilst a sale or recapitalisation of the business is pursued,” Mr Tucker said.
I have always loved the mystique of diamonds. I’m attracted to the joy and romance they bring to their beholders
Craig Rosendorff “It is a tremendous opportunity to acquire a very special jewellery item at very competitive prices and may also help save an iconic Perth jeweller.”
He said a secured creditor would support the receivers to ensure current special orders, repairs and lay-bys were completed in time for the special occasions they might be destined for.
“From proposals, to weddings and anniversaries, we understand the importance and significance these items have on people’s special memories,” Mr Tucker said.
Daniel Hillston Woodhouse of FTI Consulting has been appointed as administrator.
Rosendorff is an iconic West Australian luxury business specialising in diamonds and bespoke jewellery design headed by Craig Rosendorff.
In 1975 Mr Rosendorff renamed and launched what became one of the longest-standing diamond companies in Australia.
His rags to riches story has been dubbed The Diamond Dream.
“I have always loved the mystique of diamonds,” he says on the company’s website.
“I’m attracted to the joy and romance they bring to their beholders, the heritage and their connection to families across generations.”
The large, glamorous showroom in the centre of Perth on Hay Street has been the setting of many magnificent parties and events showcasing the designs of the Rosendorff team.
Mr Tucker said gift cards and store credits would be honoured while trade continues.
White knight rescues collapased Rosendorff Diamond Jewellers
The Rosendorff fine jewellery business will carry on but under new ownership following a deal struck by receivers appointed last month.
Insolvency firm KordaMentha confirmed today it had struck an agreement to sell the business set up by Craig Rosendorff in the 1980s to an unidentified WA buyer also involved in the jewellery trade.
The deal, expected to be finalised in two to three weeks, guarantees more than 20 jobs and covers the Rosendorff trading name, stock and intellectual property.
Receivers from KordaMentha were put into Rosendorff Diamond Jewellers at the end of April.
The business, which owes at least $4 million to creditors, has shrunk on falling sales in the past three years to just its flagship store in Hay Street Mall.
The deal covers the Rosendorff trading name, stock and intellectual property.
Today’s sale announcement coincided with news the receivers are stepping up a discount sale which has already brought in between $2 million and $3 million.
The West Australian revealed yesterday that administrators from FTI Consulting had identified “irregularities” in the company’s accounts while sheeting home blame for the collapse to the mining downturn.
They questioned a $1.8 million shortfall in stock and four transactions totalling $170,000 where jewellery “left the store without payment”.
FTI said “there were limited controls around the accounting and inventory functions, which have led to some anomalies in the financial accounts”.
However, it noted that such irregularities were not uncommon, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Rosendorff.
The firm’s statutory report on Rosendorffs also noted that Mr Rosendorff, who has invested millions of dollars in the business over the past 30 years, had drawn increasing amounts out of the company as its financial situation deteriorated.
Between July 2017 and FTI’s appointment, those withdrawals totalled $1.8 million, including $582,000 in the past 10 months.
The administrators says Rosendorffs had been under financial pressure for two years, citing “cash leakage” and a steady decline in sales after 2011, triggered by the end of the mining boom.
Gordon Brothers is owed about $2.2 million, Rosendorffs’ staff $400,000 and trade creditors $270,000.
Controversial Australia-based miner Kimberley Diamonds has put its last remaining diamond mine into administration after it failed to secure fresh funding.
Kimberley, which avoided an estimated $40 million clean-up bill after it walked away from its Ellendale mine in Western Australia’s north, shut its Lerala operation in Botswana last week and placed the subsidiary responsible for the project into administration.
Kimberley said in a statement on its website that its subsidiary Lerala Diamond Mines had “no choice” but to place itself into administration after the parent company was unable to strike a new financing deal.
It had earlier stopped day to day operations at Lerala pending an overhaul of the mine’s diamond processing plant. “The successful completion of this performance improvement plant required further funds to be provided by investors and despite considerable progress being made on implementing these improvements, all of the required funds have not been forthcoming,” Kimberley said. “Kimberley has been in discussions with investors regarding further funds for some time, however to date no agreement for further and sufficient funding has been reached and KDL has been forced to cease providing financial support to Lerala.” But the collapse of Lerala won’t kill off the parent. Kimberley said it remained in discussions with investors for further funding and was “exploring corporate restructuring options”.
Kimberley delisted from the ASX earlier this year after a chequered history. The stock enjoyed a charmed run early on, surging from 11c in 2012 to $1.30 in 2013, but fell spectacularly in 2014 when it revealed it had failed to secure a price increase from global jeweller Tiffany & Co that it had already factored into its profit forecasts. Its shares never recovered, and last traded at just 0.7c prior to its delisting.
The company, chaired by former stockbroker Alexandre Alexander, also came under fire for its handling of the closure of Ellendale. The liquidators appointed to the Kimberley subsidiary that held Ellendale used a legal loophole to shift responsibility for the clean-up to the state government’s industry-funded mining rehabilitation fund.
The rehabilitation costs at Ellendale have been estimated at between $28m and $40m. WA’s new Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston has flagged an overhaul to prevent “rogue elements” taking advantage of the MRF.
Anglo American’s De Beers, the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, has decided to begin selling its own polished diamonds in auctions for the first time in its history.
The pilot auction, scheduled for June, will include a wide range of polished stones manufactured directly from the company’s own rough diamonds.
“The pilot auction, scheduled for June 29, will include a wide range of polished stones manufactured directly from De Beer’s own rough diamonds.” All the polished rocks will carry grading reports from both the International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR) — De Beers’ in-house grading unit — and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
“We are interested in testing the level of demand from polished buyers for diamonds that have a clear and attractive source of origin, and that offer the assurance of product integrity that dual certification provides,” Neil Ventura, the miner’s executive vice president of auction sales, said in the statement.
If successful, the process would provide De Beers with more insight into the polished market, while also helping consumers fill gaps in supply or inventory if they were unable to find goods at the company’s rough auctions, he added.
All registered De Beers auction buyers will be eligible to bid in the first sale, which takes place on June 29.
Profit more than doubled for De Beers last year as trading conditions in the diamond-manufacturing sector improved and inventory levels stabilized.
Underlying earnings jumped to $667 million in 2016 from $258 million a year earlier, parent company Anglo American said in a statement Tuesday. This came as revenue grew 30 percent to 6.07 billion, reflecting a 37-percent hike in rough-diamond sales to $5.6 billion.
The midstream of the diamond industry returned to buying rough after a 2015 slump in demand that resulted from oversupply of polished and inflated rough prices. Manufacturers started working down their polished inventories in the second half of that year before restocking their rough supplies in 2016.
De Beers also lowered prices, with its rough-price index declining 13 percent across 2016. The miner consequently reduced its rough stockpiles during the year, management said. De Beers production fell 5 percent to 27.3 million carats, while sales volume leapt 50 percent to 30 million carats, meaning it sold a larger volume of stones than it mined. “2016 generally was a much better year for the diamond industry,” said Bruce Cleaver, De Beers chief executive officer. “The midstream performed much better than 2015, largely as a result of the strong and decisive action we took in 2015 to reduce production in accordance with demand.
The fruits of that tough action we took in 2015 was seen through 2016.” The company projected production would rise to 31 to 33 million carats in 2017, “because we see the market has recovered from where it was at the end of 2015,” noted Cleaver. The company maintained a conservative outlook for the diamond jewelry market given prevailing global macro-economic conditions and geopolitical risk.
Performance will be dependent on a number of macro issues, including the attitude of the new U.S. administration, the strength of the dollar, continued recovery in China and the impact of Indian demonetization, Cleaver explained. “All other things being equal, we think diamond demand will continue to grow along with GDP growth,” he said. Source: diamonds.net
In a surprise announcement, online jeweller Blue Nile has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an investor group managed by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC.
Bain Capital and Bow Street will acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Blue Nile common stock.
The cash deal is valued at $500 million, Blue Nile stockholders will receive $40.75 in cash per share, 34 percent over Blue Nile’s closing price on November 4.
Blue Nile’s board of directors approved the deal unanimously, and recommended that stockholders vote their shares in favour of the transaction.
Petra Diamonds announced that it had recovered a 138.57-carat, Type IIa, D-colour diamond at its historic Cullinan mine near Pretoria in South Africa. The company said the diamond would be offered for sale in Johannesburg later this month.
Lucara Sells Its 813 Carat Diamond for US$63 Million, the Highest Price Ever Achieved for the Sale of a Rough Diamond.
Lucara Sells Its 813 Carat Diamond for US$63 Million, the Highest Price Ever Achieved for the Sale of a Rough Diamond.
Lucara, is pleased to announce that the exceptional 812.77 carat, Type IIa diamond recovered from the Karowe mine in Botswana in November 2015, has been sold for US$63,111,111 (US$77,649 per carat).
As part of the sale, Lucara has partnered with Nemesis International DMCC, and retains a 10% interest in the net profit received from the sale of the resultant polished diamonds.
The 813 carat diamond has been named, “The Constellation”, in collaboration with our partner. Lucara is a well-positioned diamond producer.
The Company’s main producing asset is the 100% owned Karowe Mine in Botswana.
Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered the largest recorded diamond ever found in Angola.
The 404.2 carat rough diamond has been confirmed as type IIa D colour, according to Lucapa’s statement.
Lucapa is a listed Australian Securities Exchange company recovered the exceptional rough diamond at Mining Block 8 of the company’s Lulo Diamond Project in Angola.
Mining Block 8 has already produced more than 60 large diamonds since mining August 2015. Previous largest diamond from Lulo was 133.4 carats and the previous Angolan record was set by the 217.4 carat Angolan Star recovered from the Luarica mine in 2007.
Lucapa holds a 40 percent interest in the alluvial diamond mine it operates in Lulo, Endiama has a 32 percent interest and private local partner Rosas & Pétalas holds the remaining 28 percent.
