News – Page 106 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

De Beers rough diamond sight grows to $575m

Anglo American’s De Beers the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, sold $575 million worth of rough diamonds at the fifth sight of this year.

The value is a 6% increase from the $541m sight in the same period last year and 3.7% higher than the $554m sight last month.

De Beers has increased efforts in recent months to find a way to verify the source of diamonds and ensure they are not from conflict area where rough diamonds may have been used to finance violence.

Last month De beers announced it would start selling jewellery made with laboratory grown diamonds.

CAR Welcomes Progress Made At KP Intersessional Meeting

During the Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process which took place from 18 to 22 June in Antwerp, the Central African Republic made substantial progress with the European Union Chair Hilde Hardeman and South Africa, Chair of the Working Group of the Monitoring Team, the CAR said in a statement.

Notably, the Monitoring Team of the Central African Republic has agreed on shorter clearance deadlines for the export of diamonds. The approval procedures in the CAR must now be concluded within 7 days while still securing compliance with the Kimberley Process.

Sipho Manese, Chair of the Working Group of the Monitoring Team, declared at the closing ceremony of the intersessional meeting: “We are happy to announce that thanks to the expertise of the CAR Monitoring Team and all of its members, we have been able to agree on procedures for the processing of shipments which will only take place over a period of 7 days. […] We were therefore successful in cutting down the clearance time from 2 weeks to 7 days.”

Manese further noted that all parties involved will have to strictly adhere to these procedures.

Leopold Mboli Fatran, CAR Minister of Mines and Geology attended the meeting as a representative of the sector for his country and said “I am very satisfied with the progress made at the intersessional meeting. The discussions were very fruitful and so were the solutions agreed upon.” The Minister added that “2018 is a crucial year for the Kimberley Process and for the Central African Republic as the country is at a deciding stage in the reform of its diamond sector.”

The CAR Delegation was reinforced by the presence of Peter Meeus, special advisor to the President and to the Minister of Geology and Mines, whose mandate is to assure proper due diligence processes within the CAR mining sector. This mandate was conferred to him with a presidential decree dated June 2, 2018.

The Minister of Mines and Geology also indicated his willingness to host an Expert Mission in the CAR so that the controls that have been put in place in the country in compliance with the Kimberley Process can be properly assessed.

The Central African Republic will continue to improve compliance with the Kimberley Process in close collaboration with the EU KP Chair, South Africa who leads the Monitoring Working Group as well as with the United States which leads the CAR Monitoring Team.

Source: idexonline

Losses Grow at South Africa’s Trans Hex

Trans Hex Group’s losses widened 2% to $13.9 million in the past fiscal year, reflecting the termination of its Lower Orange River mining operations.

The company halted production at the unprofitable LOR division in South Africa in October, and agreed in April to sell the assets to a firm called Lower Orange River Diamonds. Revenue from LOR fell 54% to $15.3 million due to the mines Baken and Bloeddrif being on care and maintenance for a large part of the financial year ending March 31. Losses at the discontinued operations grew 81% to $15.9 million from $8.7 million last year.

Sales at Trans Hex’s continuing operations West Coast Resources in South Africa and Somiluana in Angola more than doubled to $14.3 million . The miner recorded a $2 million profit at those assets, compared with a loss of $4.9 million a year ago.

Source: diamonds.net

The De Beers Retail division removes diamond from the name

De Beers public brand identity, has been renamed ”De Beers Jewellers” to reflect the companys retail chain.

De Beers acquired fully the formerly known De Beers Diamond Jewellers in 2017. Which was a partnership with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The London headquartered retailer announced Stephen Lussier, as De Beers executive vice president for marketing in charge of the operation.

Lucara Sells Two Huge Diamonds at $32M Tender

Lucara Diamonds have sold two exceptional large rough diamonds at the $32.5 million tender.

The tender included a 327 carat rough diamond that sold for over $10 million USD.

Lucara said the 10 stones ranging from 40.4 carats to a 472.37 carat rough stone a combined 1,453.06 carats, sold for an average price of $22,356 per carat.

The top seller was the 327.48 carat white diamond, which earned $30,900 per carat total $10.1 million.

Another exceptional size 472.37 carat light brown stone also sold but the miner has not publish its price.

Lucapa gets another $2 million from Lulo diamonds sale

Lucapa Diamonds said it had made USD $2 million after selling rough diamonds recovered at its prolific Lulo mine in Angola.

Sale has taken gross sales proceeds from the Angola based mine so far this year to $15.9 million.

Empresa Nacional de Diamantes and Rosas & Petalas, Lucapa all partners in th emine have sold 1,782 carats at an average price of $1,150 per carat.

The mine is located 150km from Alrosa’s Catoca mine the world’s fourth largest diamond mine, hosts type 2a diamonds which account for less than 1% of global supply.

Angola is now the world’s forth largest diamond producer by value and sixth by volume.

Petra Diamonds has secured $170 million to help lower debt

Shares in Petra Diamonds climbed around 5% on Wednesday after the South African miner said shareholders had approved a rights issue to raise about $170 million to help cut its debt burden.

Petra Diamonds has more than $600 million of debt it accumulated by building a new plant and digging deeper at its flagship Cullinan diamond mine.

Petra Diamonds is owner of the iconic Cullinan mine, where the world’s biggest ever diamond was found in 1905, has accumulated a hefty debt in the last 18 months as it borrowed heavily to expand its mines, known for some major recent findings,

Petra Diamonds has more than $600 million of debt it accumulated by building a new plant and digging deeper at Cullinan. Its lenders waived covenants for December 2017 and relaxed them for this year’s measurements.

Petra Diamonds also faced illegal mining at its operations, weak prices, a surging South African rand and setbacks in Tanzania, where the government seized last year a diamond parcel from it Williamson mine of about 71,000 carats. The move, part of the country’s ongoing probe into alleged wrongdoing in the diamond and tanzanite sectors, has been costly for Petra, as it shares lost around half of their value last year after the incident.

20ct. Flawless Diamond Leads Christie’s Sale

The exceptional 20.47 carat D colour type IIa old mine brilliant cut, diamond has sold for USD $2.7 million.

The D flawless diamond was the top seller at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in New York on Tuesday.

The Christie’s pre-sale estimate for the diamond was $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Thieves Steal 20ct. Diamond at Vegas Show

Two men stole a 20 carat diamond from an exhibitor’s booth at the JCK Las Vegas trade show, the Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) said last week.

The men were able to slide open an unlocked display case on June 2 while employees were not looking, the organization alleged. One man then sat down at the booth and began speaking with an employee, while the second placed a catalog on top of the showcase. The second man then reached into the case and removed the stone.

The JSA has distributed pictures of both alleged thieves, but neither has been identified yet.

Image: Jewelers’ Security Alliance

Botswana Diamonds picks up high potential kimberlite pipe in South Africa

Botswana Diamonds has been awarded the priority 2.5 ha Mooikloof kimberlite pipe concession. Using recently developed exploration techniques it will re-assess this high potential pipe.

The award of the Mooikloof Prospecting Licence is an important development for Botswana Diamonds.

Mooikloof was last prospected in 1986. The adjacent Oaks mine was owned and successfully operated by De Beers. The Oaks mine had a grade of 53 cpht at a value of $156 per carat.

The large flagship Venetia mine, operated by De Beers, is close by and in the same general geology.

Based on Botswana Diamond’s experience elsewhere, it suspects that past explorers may have systematically under estimated the kimberlite pipe size, grade and diamond quality of the Mooikloof kimberlite.

It will deploy state of the art exploration techniques to reassess the Mooikloof kimberlite, and maybe open another by passed kimberlite pipe development.

Botswana Diamonds has now received the Technical Economic Evaluation Report on the Thorny River Project.

The deposit is between 1.2 and 2 Mt, the grade is between 46 and 74 cpht and carat values between US$120 and $220 per carat.

The Technical Economic Evaluation Report indicated positive economics could potentially be achieved using the top end of the grade and value ranges, assuming additional kimberlite volume of similar grade and value can be defined with further exploration.

While not a Scoping Study as Botswana Diamonds had previously envisaged in the announcements dated 15 February 2018 and 21 March 2018, the Technical Economic Evaluation Report has provided the company’s directors with sufficient information to conclude that the Thorny River Project requires further investigation.

Consequently, the directors are considering the company’s various technical and commercial options, which will be studied simultaneously with ongoing exploration.

Drilling at Ontevreden confirmed the existence of a kimberlite pipe, but showed the pipe to be smaller than the previously indicated geophysical anomaly.

Given Botswana Diamond’s attractive priorities elsewhere, it now proposes no further work on Ontevreden.

“Significant progress has been made on our joint venture projects in South Africa,” comments Botswana Diamonds chairman, John Teeling.

“Analysis shows that a mine on the Thorny River deposit could be profitable assuming positive results from additional exploration. Now we must refine the volume, grade and value estimates while working on the mining model.

“But modern mineral exploration technology is not a magic bullet. Modern geophysics indicated a 0.7 ha pipe at Ontevreden. Our drilling confirmed a smaller pipe, which is not currently commercial”.

Source: miningreview