The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)
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Diamond Miner Gem Diamonds has found a 202 carat rough diamond at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, Sothern Africa. The rough diamond is the latest of seven recovered over 100 carats this year.
The D colour type IIa diamond was recovered when they mine switched to the higher grade K6 section of the main pipe earlier this year.
The Letšeng mine is one of the highest diamond deposits by value in the world with the an average price of $2,397 per carat for the July tender.
Dealers reported a difficult but stable rough market as De Beers’ November sight closed with a value of $455 million — 4% lower than the same period a year ago.
The rough market improved slightly from the October sight, which was the smallest sale of the year as Indian manufacturing slowed for Diwali. However, sightholders still noted weak profitability on De Beers goods during November, with premiums on the secondary market close to zero.
Most boxes of diamonds from last week’s sight commanded prices on the dealer market that did not cover the costs of doing deals, explained Dudu Harari of diamond broker Bluedax in a report on the sight.
Read More: diamonds.net
The largest diamond offered at an auction went under the hammer in Geneva Tuesday setting a world record for a diamond of its shape.
The D colour 11A type flawless diamond was Polished from a 404 carat rough diamond which was recovered in February 2016 in the Lulo mine in Angola.
The 163.41 carat called The Art of Grisogono, sold for $33.8 million, after taxes and commissions, at the Christie’s autumn jewellery auction.
The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and the International Diamond Council (IDC) have decided to use the same terminology for describing diamonds, making it easier for consumers to understand grading.
CIBJO agreed to make amendments to its Diamond Book — a guide to grading standards and terminology — following requests by the IDC, an organization that works to ensure consistency in grading across the industry. The IDC’s language will now be “harmonized” with that of the Diamond Book, CIBJO said Tuesday.
“The true beneficiaries of this agreement are the diamond consumers, who will now be able to refer to a single set of rules for describing diamonds,” said CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri.
The two organizations finalized the agreement at the CIBJO Congress in Bangkok this week. The International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), one of the IDC’s founding bodies, has also endorsed the new Diamond Book.
IDC http://www.internationaldiamondcouncil.org
Source: diamonds.net
Alrosa the Russian miner and top diamond producer by output, recovered three gem quality large rough diamonds.
A 82.82 carat, a 108.34 carat, and a 163.11 carat all light yellow or yellow.
All three rough diamonds were recovered at the Jubilee kimberlite pipe, one of Alrosa’s Mining units Aikhalsky in the country’s northeast.
The three diamonds will be sent to Alrosa’s for assessment in the coming days.
The Fancy Colour Diamond Index for the third quarter of 2017 indicates a slight rise overall of 0.2 percent over Q2 2017, for yellow, pink and blue fancy colour diamonds in all sizes and saturations.
Moreover, the index shows that in Q3 prices of fancy blue and pink colour diamonds appreciated 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent respectively. Similar to Q1 2017 trends, the strongest performing price categories during Q3 2017 were fancy intense and fancy vivid blue diamonds across all carat sizes.
In Q3 2017, fancy yellow diamond prices declined by 0.1 percent, the lowest price decrease for the category since Q3 2016. There was price stability across most other fancy colour diamond categories, continuing the trend in fancy colour diamond pricing patterns during 2016 and early 2017.
On a year-on-year basis, when compared to Q3 2016, the Fancy Colour Diamond Index is slightly down by 0.2 percent, with fancy blues up 4.7 percent and fancy yellows and fancy pinks down 2.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Compared to the same period in 2015, the Fancy Colour Diamond Index is up 0.7 percent with fancy blues and fancy pinks up 8.1 percent and 1.2 percent respectively, and fancy yellows down 4.1 percent.
The Fancy Colour Diamond Index is published by the non-profit Fancy Colour Research Foundation (FCRF), and tracks pricing data for yellow, pink and blue fancy colour diamonds in three key global trading centers – Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv.
FCRF Advisory Board Chairman Eden Rachminov said: “As far as supply is concerned, 2017 and the year before were record low years for blue fancy colour diamond production from mines. The majority of the blues that are coming into the market are pre-owned stones. Manufacturers have seen a significant drop in availability across all sizes and qualities, and consequently prices have continued to increase. Going forward, the market will have to adjust to a lower “new normal” supply level for blue fancy colour and pinks in the high saturations levels.”
Source: idexonline
There is common misconception that a diamond exhibiting fluorescence under ultra violet light has some kind of colour defect or transparency issue.
This NOT true at all. The naturally occurring fluorescence phenomenon is a unique completely hidden feature, which is present to some level in approximately 30% of all diamonds.
The effect is seen in Diamonds which have Carbon bonds which include boron.
Boron causes the diamond to glow when held under a powerful ultra violet light also known as blacklight.
The amount of boron in the Carbon bond making up the diamond will determine the level of fluorescence. Fluorescence is rated by the Laboratory as Very Strong, Strong, Medium, Faint, None. This relates to the strength of the fluorescent glow under ultra violet light.
Laboratories use fluorescence as a means of identifying the diamond along with many other characteristics found in natural diamonds.
May Jewellers and consumers have been led to believe that fluorescence in diamonds will negatively affect the colour or transparency.
Again this is NOT true. Fluorescence has a tendency to make the middle to lower colour diamonds in the colour chart look whiter than the same colour would with no fluorescence. More obvious when viewing the diamond from the table view or top.
Therefore fluorescence has very little, to no negative effect on the diamonds colour or transparency. Diamonds are more likely affected by heavy graining or microscopic clouds.
This is good for the buyer as misinformation has caused consumers to be wary of a UV responsive or fluorescence diamond. This has caused diamond dealers and jewellers to discount these diamonds based on the level of fluorescence in the diamond the same colour and clarity.
Conclusion: save some money and take advantage of the lack of knowledge in the market.
Rapaport Group has been appointed as the marketing and sales agent of the Peace Diamond by The Government of Sierra Leone.
The 709 carat Rough Diamond was recovered by diamond diggers in the village of Koryardu in Sierra Leone West Africa.
50% of the Peace Diamond sale value will directly go to benefit the community where the diamond was discovered, and the people of Sierra Leone.
Geologists have discovered what they refer to as young diamonds, after analyzing a number of rough diamonds.
It now appears the creation of rough diamonds, may have occurred later in the Earth’s history than was previously thought. Diamond requires extreme temperatures and pressures to form. Geologists though these conditions only existed in the early formation of Earth.
Small impurities in the diamonds could indicate the conditions in which they are formed. So 26 diamonds donated by the De Beers Group where analyzed by a research team in Amsterdam.
Sm-Nd isotope techniques are used by researchers to analyzed the sampled garnet inclusions, Which are a common mineral found in Earth’s mantle and sometimes within the diamonds.
The scientists discovered two sets of diamonds, one of Archaean age 2.95 billion years old thought to be the original source of the diamonds. And then surprisingly the other of Proterozoic age 1.15 billion years old.
Sarine Technologies the world leader in diamond measuring and assessing is expanding its diamond report. It will include the 4C’s quality grades including the diamond’s cut, color, clarity and carat weight. This will be done using its own automated grading tools.
To get these grades for the diamonds Sarine is using its Clarity and Colour machines unveiled last year.. The two machines can automatically measure a diamond’s clarity and color, a skill usually performed by trained gemologists in laboratories like the GIA, HRD, DCLA and others.
Sarine claims it can deliver quality diamond grading with less subjectivity and fewer human errors, adding that the move would raise confidence.
Sarine is collaborating with Swiss gemological lab GGTL Laboratories on the technology.