Two large high-quality diamonds – each larger than 50 carats – were unearthed in Yakutia on December 2, 2022, Bankers Day, “when Russian bankers celebrated their professional holiday,” according to Rough & Polished.
The two stones were extracted at Processing Plant No. 12 from the ore mined at the Udachnaya diamond pipe. One weighs over 67 carats, while the second diamond, a type IIa, weighs more than 52 carats,
Dmitry Amelkin, Alrosa’s Strategy Director, commented: “Finding two of these rare gem-quality diamonds on one and the same day is a unique coincidence. It is symbolic that this happened precisely on the Udachnaya diamond pipe, which has been accompanied by good luck since its discovery.
Sarine Technologies has agreed to acquire a majority share in New York-based Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL) amid a push to expand in the American market.
“At the beginning of last year, we started ramping up our activities in the US,” Sarine CEO David Block told Rapaport News on Thursday. “Due to that, the discussions with regard to this [deal] ramped up along with our involvement in the US market. This [deal] should be quite a significant jump in the scope of our business in the US.”
Israel-based Sarine has signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to purchase the stake for an all-cash consideration, it announced in a statement on Wednesday. The parties plan to reach a final agreement in a few months once due diligence is complete, Block said. The companies have not disclosed the sale price or the size of the share.
GCAL will continue to offer its customers the same products and services as before the deal, and its executives will remain in charge, Sarine said.
However, while currently operating out of a single location in New York, GCAL will be able to implement Sarine’s e-Grading — an automated grading service using artificial intelligence (AI) — to develop the lab’s capabilities across the US and globally. The companies will begin integrating their technology and services even before the deal closes, Block explained. Sarine will continue to offer its services independently outside the US.
Founded in 2001 by Don Palmieri, family-owned GCAL is known for providing diamond certificates carrying a guarantee, rather than just reports that act as a description of grades. In 2021, it launched 8X, a cut-grading standard that it claims is more exacting than the industry’s triple Ex score.
“Sarine’s technologies will allow us to continue to abide by [our] key code of ethics while still expanding our services to meet the growing demand by consumers seeking confidence that their acquired products and services meet all norms of quality and sustainability,” said GCAL chief operating officer Angelo Palmieri.
Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov is stepping down from the position, a Russian news outlet reported.
The executive has decided to resign before the termination of his contract, according to a Google-translated version of an RBC article. He might move into a role at Volga Group, which controls gas and petrochemicals assets, the report added, citing an unnamed source.
An Alrosa spokesperson declined to comment to Rapaport News on Sunday.
Ivanov joined the Russian diamond miner in the top job in 2017, succeeding Andrey Zharkov. Earlier this year, the US named Ivanov as a sanctioned person following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Pink and yellow diamonds from two iconic Rio Tinto mines – Argyle and Diavik – have been brought together to create a unique ring.
It’s called Diavik Midnight Sun and has been valued at $1.24m.
An 18.08 carat fancy intense yellow oval diamond from Diavik, in sub-Arctic Canada, contrasts with an intricate setting of rare Argyle pink diamonds, from the now-closed mine in in the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia, weighing 4.09 carats in total.
The yellow diamond was cut from a 36.75-ct rough gem, described as one of the finest large yellow diamonds uncovered at Diavik.
Rio Tinto’s general manager of sales and marketing for its diamonds business, Patrick Coppens said “This combination of a rare yellow Diavik diamond and Argyle Pink Diamonds, the rarest diamonds in the world, is a special moment in the history of Rio Tinto’s unique place in the natural fancy coloured diamond industry.
He paid tribute to luxury jeweler Musson for creating the ring. The Diavik Midnight Sun takes its inspiration from the exquisite natural phenomenon that occurs when the sun is seen at midnight in the Arctic, exhibiting beautiful golden and pink hues.
A rivière diamond necklace was the top seller at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels in Hong Kong on Monday, bringing in $5.9 million.
The sale price for the piece, which features 52 round brilliant-cut, D-flawless and internally flawless diamonds weighing a total of 104.84 carats, was within estimates. In total, the November 28 auction achieved $46.2 million, with 50% of the jewels on offer exceeding their high estimates, Christie’s said Monday.
The company sold 86% of available lots, or 82% by value, and drew global participation from 21 countries across three continents.
The auction also included a collection of jewels from Hong Kong actress Rosamund Kwan, which fetched a combined total of $11.1 million. The two leading lots from that sale saw heavily competitive bidding, lasting over 15 minutes, Christie’s noted. The top item in the group was a necklace featuring a pear brilliant-cut, 22.18-carat, D-color, VVS1-clarity diamond pendant with rubies and pink diamonds, which went for $2.1 million, within estimates.
Here are the rest of the top five:
A jadeite, diamond and sapphire necklace by Etcetera sold for $2.8 million against a presale estimate of $2.6 million to $3.8 million.
This cushion modified brilliant-cut, 60.79-carat, fancy-vivid-yellow, VS2-clarity diamond ring brought in $2.7 million, in the middle of its $2.3 million to $3.6 million presale range.
A round brilliant-cut, 19.61-carat, D-flawless, type IIa diamond ring exceeded its $1.7 million to $2.3 million presale estimate, bringing in $2.4 million.
This oval-cut, 5.32-carat Burmese pigeon’s blood ruby ring with pear-shaped diamonds by Cartier Paris achieved $2.1 million, within its expected range of $1.9 million to $2.3 million.
A 13.15 carat pink diamond will no longer be available at the upcoming Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in New York.
The emerald-cut, fancy vivid pink, VVS1 clarity stone, which carried a price estimate of $25 million to $35 million, was poised to be the December 6 sale’s showcase piece. Christie’s described the diamond as one of the largest of its kind to appear at auction.
“Christie’s confirms that the fancy vivid pink diamond ring has been withdrawn from sale in New York on December 6,” a spokesperson said. The company declined to comment further or provide a reason.
The item was scheduled to appear on display in Hong Kong on Friday. The removal was “very surprising,” said one colored diamond dealer in the municipality.
Colored diamonds have had a mixed season at auction. On November 8, the 18.18-carat Fortune Pink fetched CHF 28.4 million ($28.9 million) at Christie’s Geneva, toward the lower end of its presale estimate. The following day, a 5.53 carat diamond from the De Beers Exceptional Blue Collection failed to find a buyer at a Sotheby’s auction in the Swiss city.
With the 13.15 carat pink off the list, the top remaining item at the Magnificent Jewels sale is a pear modified brilliant cut, 31.62 carat, fancy blue diamond pendant with a price estimate of $10 million to $15 million.
Lucara Diamond Corp.’s sales dropped in the third quarter as the company supplied fewer large and expensive stones from its lucrative Karowe mine in Botswana.
Revenue fell 31% year on year to $49.9 million, while net profit slumped 86% to $1.8 million, Lucara reported Wednesday.
Sales of rough from Karowe declined 36% to $46.5 million, with volume down 15% at 99,301 carats and the average price falling 43% to $337 per carat. The remaining revenue came from sales of third-party goods on Lucara’s Clara online platform.
Management blamed a decrease in the number of high-value diamonds the company sold to HB Antwerp through the pair’s supply agreement. The Belgian manufacturer is contracted to buy all Karowe rough of 10.8 carats or more, with Lucara receiving a proportion of the final polished proceeds.
In the third quarter a year earlier, Lucara sold four pink diamonds and two white, type IIa stones — weighing 393.5 and 257.5 carats — to HB. As a result of the unfavorable comparison, revenue from the agreement plummeted 46% to $27.1 million.
“Despite the overall decrease in revenue recognized in [the third quarter], diamond-market fundamentals continued to support healthy prices as steady demand and some inventory shortages were reported,” Lucara said. Fluctuation in the availability of 10.8-carat production is expected, it added.
Output from Karowe slid 19% year on year to 78,879 carats for the quarter.
oronto-listed Mountain Province Diamonds will next week put on sale an “exceptional” coloured rough diamond, which it recovered from the Gahcho Kué mine, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The diamond, a 151.60 t octahedron of exceptional clarity, will be offered for sale alongside a selection of more than 90 individual special rough diamonds recovered from the company’s Canadian diamond mine.
The upcoming sale represents the biggest offering of +10.8 ct gem quality diamonds offered by the company to date.
“This important diamond represents a clear example of the Gahcho Kué mine’s ability to consistently recover high-quality gems of exceptionally large size. These gems are highly coveted by collectors around the globe not only for their beauty but increasingly, for their Canadian origin,” commented VP for diamond marketing ReidMackie.
Diamond is a naturally occurring rare mineral that is composed of pure elemental carbon. Due to the extremely rigid arrangement of the carbon atoms in a crystal structure, diamonds possess the maximum hardness and thermal productivity than any natural material. Diamonds are also in high demand as gemstones and as luxurious commodities. Despite having a reputation for being used in jewelry like rings and necklaces, 80% of mined diamonds are used for research and industrial purposes because of their toughness and shine.
The hardest substance known to man, diamonds, are frequently used to drill, grind, or cut other difficult materials. Initially, its reserves were only discovered in Africa and provided to the rest of the globe, but today, exploration and production of diamonds have also begun on other continents. Currently, Russia produces 30% of the world’s diamonds, and approximately 39.12 million carats of diamonds were produced in Russia in 2021, making it by far the greatest diamond-mining nation in the world. With a production of 22.9 and 17.6 million carats of diamonds, respectively, Botswana and Canada are placed in second and third place, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa.
1. Russia (39.12 Million Carats)
Kimberlite pipe Mir. indigenous diamond deposits in Yakutia, Northern Russia.
Russia presently leads the world in diamond output after it began mining in 1947. Regarding volume, it is also the top exporter of rough diamonds worldwide. ALROSA is Russia’s largest diamond miner, maintaining a virtual monopoly over the sector and producing over 90% of the nation’s annual output. Russia houses some of the world’s greatest mines and diamond reserves (some of which have not yet been explored), including Udachny, Grib, and Aikhal. It was revealed in 2014 that Alrosa intends to expand the Udachny mine into a 5 million carat per year project, making it the most significant diamond mine in both Russia and the entire globe. Alrosa first used Udachny in 1971, and during the following 43 years, it has helped the company make over $80 billion. Alrosa should be able to keep its position as the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume for the foreseeable future due to Udachny’s figures.
2. Botswana (22.88 Million Carats)
Workers walking in top of the tailings of kimberlite at a diamond mine in Botswana.
A significant diamond mine was found in 1966, the year Botswana declared its independence from Britain, in a rural region called Orapa, about 250 miles from the nation’s capital of Gaborone. De Beers, the firm that discovered the mine, was and still is the world’s largest supplier of “rough stones.” The two most significant of the seven mines in the country are Orapa and Jwaneng. Despite ranking second in terms of volume, Botswana tops the list of the world’s top producers of diamonds. Botswana, which was one of the world’s 25 poorest nations, has achieved upper-middle income status due to the revenue from diamonds. The nation is currently vying for a more significant position in the sector as the No. 1 player Russia faces condemnation from around the world for its invasion of Ukraine.
3. Canada (17.62 Million Carats)
Aerial view of Ekati Diamond Mine in Northwest Territories, Canada. Image Credit: Jason Pineau via Wikimedia Commons
The Northwest Territories, which were once used as hunting grounds, are now used mainly for large-scale resource extraction, including diamond mining. Diamonds weren’t found by non-natives until 1991, specifically by two geologists named Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson. The first diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, known as Ekati, opened in 1998 because of this finding. The Arctic Canadian Diamond Company presently oversees the operation of Ekati, which is a responsible steward of the environment and a significant source of high-quality employment and money for the area. Most of Canada’s diamonds are mined in the Northwest Territories, which comprise about 40% of the total geographical area. There are currently four working diamond mines in Canada, three in the NWT – the Ekati, Diavik, and Gahcho Kué mines – and the Renard diamond mine in Quebec.
4. Democratic Republic Of The Congo (14.09 Million Carats)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the country that turned South Africa’s diamond industry profitable. Miniere de Bakwange (MIBA), a joint venture between the Belgian business Sibeka and the DRC government, which controls 80% of the company, is the only commercial diamond producer in the DRC. Although ongoing political unrest has caused production to fall recently, the DRC has the capacity to produce more diamonds. Only a tiny area has been examined, and mining has only ever been done on a small basis. Most of the DRC’s output is mined by the informal sector rather than mining companies. De Beers markets about one-third of Sibeka’s production and holds a 20% stake in the company.
5. South Africa (9.72 Million Carats)
Historic Kimberley Diamond mine in Kimberley, South Africa.
Almost all the modern diamond trade originates in South Africa. The earliest diamonds found in South Africa were alluvial diamonds. Diamonds were initially discovered in yellow earth in 1869, and then later below ground in hard rock called blue ground near and in what would become Kimberley in the Northern Cape, the diamond center of the world. Later, the blue rock was given the mining town’s name: kimberlite. One of the country’s biggest diamond deposits is located in the South African province of Gauteng. As the government and miners continue to find significant diamond resources and pipelines, the demand for diamonds in South Africa is anticipated to rise.
One can therefore expect the global diamond industry to keep expanding and displaying a bright future as long as economic prosperity continues to improve and as long as there are still diamond reserves that have not yet been mined.
India, which cuts or polishes about 90% of the diamonds sold in the world, is ramping up sales of laboratory-made gems as demand from the US surges and they become more accepted in other markets.
Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds may double in the current financial year started April 1 from $1.3 billion in the prior year, Vipul Shah, vice chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said in an interview. “We have a huge potential to grow exports to $7 billion-$8 billion in the next few years on the back of US demand and acceptability in the UK and Australia,” he said.
“It is going to be treated as a fashionable jewelry, which is affordable to the youngsters, and that’s the way the market is going to shift,” Shah said.
Diamonds grown in labs represent a small portion of the market currently — India shipped nearly $24 billion of polished diamonds mined naturally last year. Still, the much cheaper variety has been growing its share as it has the same physical characteristics and chemical makeup as mined stones, with experts needing a machine to distinguish between synthesized and mined gems.
Lab-made diamonds are developed from a carbon seed placed in a microwave chamber and superheated into a glowing plasma ball. The process creates particles that crystallize into diamonds in weeks.
Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds from India jumped about 70% in the April-July period to $622.7 million, while those of cut and polished mined diamonds fell around 3% to $8.2 billion during the same period, GJEPC data showed.
One advantage of the man-made gem is that it has a tracking system that helps monitor the supply chain and maintain consumer confidence in the gems.
“Commercial gem-quality earth-mined diamonds are being replaced completely by lab-grown diamonds,” said Ritesh Shah, director at ALTR, one of the first global lab-grown brands to start business in India. The product’s affordability, low carbon-footprint, size and fine quality offer a big draw for buyers, with the US the front-runner in the shift in consumer behavior, he said.
From a handful of companies growing diamonds in labs in the mid-2000s, there are now about 25 such growers in India, he said. The country contributes about 15% of the global production of lab-grown diamonds, according to the GJEPC.
