diamond – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Botswana Diamonds licensed for South African kimberlite cluster

The kimberlite cluster is located around 110km north-east of a Finsch diamond mine.

Diamond mining company Botswana Diamonds has secured a five-year prospecting licence on ground containing the Reivilo cluster of kimberlites in Barkley West, South Africa.

The kimberlite cluster is located around 110km north-east of a Finsch diamond mine owned by Petra Diamonds.

According to an exploration by the previous licence holder, the area holds a delineated a cluster of three kimberlite pipes, all within a 250m radius.

The prospecting licence is effective until June 2027.

Botswana Diamonds chairman John Teeling said: “When the ground became recently available, we immediately applied for the area.

“Botswana Diamonds management have long been aware of the diamond potential of this ground, and so we are delighted to have finally been awarded this high-profile exploration ground and look forward to updating shareholders in the near future on developments.”

Botswana Diamonds plans to finalise its exploration programme after carrying out a review of all the available data on the Reivilo cluster.

The firm said in a statement: “Samples of the drilling core produced G10 and eclogitic garnets, which are the optimal indicators for diamondiferous kimberlites.”

In July this year, Botswana Diamonds purchased an additional stake in the prospective Maibwe joint venture (JV) in Botswana.

The company holds a 51.7% stake in Siseko Minerals, which increased its stake in the JV from 29% to 50%.

At the time, Botswana Diamonds said it was involved in three companies focused on diamond exploration in Botswana, as well as owned assets in South Africa.

Maibwe currently holds 11 prospecting licences in Botswana’s area of the Kalahari Desert, which include several kimberlite pipes.

In October 2019, Botswana Diamonds received a mining permit for gravels and unprocessed stockpiles around the Marsfontein mine in South Africa via its associate, Vutomi Mining.

Source: mining-technology.com

Christie’s to Sell the Red Cross Diamond

One of the world’s largest yellow diamonds weighing 205.7 ct and known as the Red Cross Diamond is to be auctioned by Christie’s London.

The fancy intense yellow, cushion-shaped stone has a pavilion distinctively faceted in the shape of a Maltese cross.

The original rough gem was recovered by De Beers, in South Africa, in 1901 and was sold in 1918 in aid of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John.

It raised $13,000 equivalent to $780,000 in today’s money when it was sold at Christie’s London to the famous London firm S.J. Phillips.

It was sold again in November 1973, achieving CHF 1.8 million at Christie’s Geneva and returned to private ownership.

The diamond will again be offered for sale at Christie’s London on 11 May, with an undisclosed part of the sale revenue to be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

We have asked Christie’s for the estimate, which is available “on request”.

Source: IDEX

Rough Shortages Could Last 10 Years, Bain Says

The current shortfall in rough production will likely continue for up to a decade, while both demand and prices will remain strong, according to Bain & Company.

Output fell 20% to 111 million carats in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to shut deposits, Bain said Monday in “The Global Diamond Industry 2021-22,” the latest edition of its annual report on the sector. Production increased 4.5% to 116 million carats in 2021, when mines reopened. However, solid demand for diamond jewelry depleted resources, as did the closure of Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Australia, which accounted for 11 million carats a year.

“Demand was so strong, production levels had to be supplemented by inventory,” Bain partner Olya Linde told Rapaport News. “We have not seen such strong demand for a long time. Actually, I have not seen such a big boom in all my time in the industry. Going forward, it’s not that easy to just add production. So, while demand will continue to remain strong, the ability for players to increase production in the short term is very limited.”

Miners’ “technical” inventories — goods that have been extracted but are not yet ready for sale — fell to an all-time low of 29 million carats in 2021, Linde claimed.

Over the next five years, rough output is expected to grow between 1% and 2% annually, reaching just over 122 million carats by the end of 2022 — still 10% to 15% below pre-pandemic levels.

Rising jewelry demand

In 2021, demand for diamond jewelry rose 29% globally and 38% in the US, well above pre-pandemic figures. China, the second-largest market, showed similar growth, Linde noted.

“At the end of the consumer holiday season and coming into the new year, there is still a lot of interest and demand,” she explained. “Even in 2022, we can expect that demand will continue, probably not at the same level of recovery, but it will definitely be robust enough. Although we don’t have a crystal ball, and don’t know how prices will behave for sure, given that supply is limited, it sets a foundation to support very healthy price growth across categories.”

Lack of new supply

The dearth of new mines coming online as others go offline or approach their end of life is also contributing to the gloomy production forecast. While exploration is underway in Botswana, Angola, Australia and Canada, the only project that will significantly add to output in the near term is the Luaxe mine in Angola, Linde said.

“We do not expect production to recover to 139 million carats [seen in 2019] in the next five years, for sure, and even not in the next 10 years, honestly, unless there will be a major unexpected discovery that could be brought up to production fairly quickly,” she noted. “We have to remember not only do we have a very limited number of new projects, but existing mines also have declining production levels.”

Filling the hole

While availability will decrease across most categories, it is unlikely lab-grown diamonds will cover the natural-diamond shortfall, as they are doing well in their own, separate category, Linde said.

Growth in synthetics over the past year was likely supported by both a decrease in prices, as well as higher transaction volumes, she explained.

“I don’t believe that one category is taking market share away from the other,” she added. “If you look at last year, if the market is operating purely on substitution, you would be hard pressed to really say where all this demand is coming from. In the US, it far outgrew pre-pandemic levels. What that suggests to me is that there are additional consumers that are coming to make lab-grown diamond purchases that we have not seen before in the diamond sector.”

Source: Diamonds.net

Jewellery valuations have been revolutionized.

The game changing App for jewellers has arrived in Australia.The UBER of Jewellery valuations has been launched on IOS and Android platforms. Get paid for valuations that take minutes to produce.

Jewellery valuations have been revolutionized.
Do you consider yourself an Expert or Master Jeweller, with years of experience? Do you use diamonds, precious stones and precious metals from ethical suppliers with proven qualities? Then you are the level of Jeweller the AcuVal system is designed for.

cuVal is the future of valuation.

No costly, unnecessary sending of goods to a third party, unless you want them to prepare the paperwork. You as the producer or seller are the most qualified to give the value based on your selling or replacement costs.

Get paid for valuations that take minutes to produce. Either Start a Valuation or Select a Valuation Request from a customer, complete the valuation, submit the certificate with an invoice and be paid for your work.

AcuVal charges you a fee for each certificate which you may in turn mark up, and collect from your customer using the App’s merchant facility.

If you would like to know more visit acuval.com.au or contact Mandy
Download AcuVal now for free an the App store!

Lucara Recovers 1,174 Carat Diamond from the Karowe Mine in Botswana

Lucara Diamond Corp. is pleased to announce the recovery of a 1,174.76 carat diamond from its 100% owned Karowe Diamond Mine located in Botswana.

The diamond, measuring 77x55x33mm, is described as a clivage gem of variable quality with significant domains of high-quality white gem material, and was recovered from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe.

The 1,174 carat diamond represents the third +1,000 carat diamond recovered from the South Lobe of the AK6 kimberlite since 2015 including the 1,758 carat Sewelô and 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona.

The 1,174.76 carat diamond was recovered in the Mega Diamond Recovery XRT circuit. On the same production day, several other diamonds of similar appearance (471 carat, 218 carat, 159 carat) were recovered at the main XRT circuit, indicating the 1,174 diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of > 2000 carats.

The MDR is positioned after the primary crusher, ahead of the autogenous mill, and is the first opportunity for diamond recovery within the circuit.

Company Buys 50,000 Diamonds for World-First Tradable Coins

The company behind diamond “coins” for investors will embark on the automated purchase of about 50,000 gems on Tuesday.

The coins will be the world’s first regulator-approved, exchange-traded, fungible diamond commodity offering.

New York-based Diamond Standard is buying inventory to produce the first batch of 5,000 diamond standard coins, each containing “a set of certified natural diamonds with identical geological scarcity” weighing around 4.5 carats all with the exact value of $5,000.

The diamonds will be assembled into clear plastic coins containing a wireless blockchain token by the International Gemological Institute (IGI).

They will then be traded as a commodity and the price will fluctuate. Subsequent coins will replicate the rarity of the benchmark set.

“We buy sight unseen,” said CEO and founder Cormac Kinney. “Our computer automatically buys the least expensive diamonds across a statistically valid sample.

We don’t even know the price. We are literally buying the certificate.”
Diamond Standard bids electronically through its own Diamond Standard Exchange to buy a statistical samples of all qualities of natural, polished diamonds, seeking the lowest price across a wide range – D to L color, IF to SI2 clarity, VG to EX GIA cut scale, from 0.21-carats to 0.75-carats.

Source: IDEX

Retail Diamond Jewelry Sales Recover in India

Sales of diamond jewelry in India are recovering and could reach 85 per cent of last year, despite the pandemic, says De Beers.

A surge over the Diwali period, together with strong performances early in 2020 before COVID-19 hit, will largely make up for the second-quarter “washout”, said De Beers India managing director Sachin Jain.

“We saw very high surge in number of consumers with pent-up demand where consumers came and bought,” he told the Press Trust of India news agency.

“Due to government restrictions on travel and number of people allowed in gatherings, a lot of the overall budget for wedding is being utilised towards jewellery.”

He said the De Beers’ brand Forevermark was expected to increase its number of retail outlets by 10, to 270, by the end of the year.

He predicted diamond jewelry sales across all retailers for 2020 would be 70 to 85 per cent of 2019.

Source: idexonline.com

Sotheby’s Expects Pink to Fetch Up to $38M

Sotheby’s will sell the largest vivid purple pink diamond ever to appear at auction, with expectations it could achieve up to $38 million at a November sale.

The oval modified brilliant-cut, 14.83 carat, fancy vivid purple pink, internally flawless, type IIa stone is set to go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction in Geneva on November 11, Sotheby’s said Monday. The company has given the piece a presale estimate of $23 million to $38 million.

“Pink diamonds, perhaps more than any other colored diamond, have captured the imagination of collectors for centuries, making up five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction,” said Benoit Repellin, head of the auction house’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction. “These exceptional sales, all realized in the last decade, are a testament to the growing appreciation and awareness of the great scarcity of these natural treasures around the world, and with the supply of these beautiful stones becoming ever more limited, they are likely to continue to become even more prized.”

Alrosa cut and polished the diamond from a 27.85 carat rough it unearthed at its Ebelyakh deposit in Yakutia in July 2017. The miner named the polished The Spirit of the Rose after the famous Russian ballet premiered by the Ballets Russes company in 1911, and called the rough Nijinsky, in honor of Vasalv Nijinsky, one of the ballet’s principal dancers.

The Spirit of the Rose is one of the three-stone Spectacle collection Alrosa has dedicated to Russian ballet. The set also includes the Firebird, an Asscher-cut, 20.69-carat, fancy vivid yellow, VS1-clarity diamond, which Alrosa sold to Graff for an undisclosed amount in December. The miner is still manufacturing the third stone. Alrosa had originally expected to sell The Spirit of the Rose in November 2019, it said last year.

Sotheby’s will exhibit The Spirit of the Rose in Hong Kong; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; and Geneva prior to the sale.

Source: Diamonds.net

Kate Moss launches her debut jewellery collection with Messika

Despite being the face of many a jewellery campaign over the years, you wouldn’t expect Kate Moss the ultimate poster child for 90s insouciance to care much about high jewellery.

Yet the British supermodel clearly does, as her new jewellery line shows us. It was made in collaboration with French haute joaillerie house Messika, whose casual, contemporary diamond designs have won over the likes of Gigi Hadid, Beyoncé and Rihanna. Moss was the face of Messika’s campaign last year, but this year she takes a much larger role as designer.

It was Moss, as well as Marilyn Monroe, whom founder Valérie Messika first pegged as her muses when she launched her jewellery label in 2005. Through her new collaboration with the fashion icon, things have come full circle.

The ‘Messika by Kate Moss’ line is inspired by pieces in Moss’ own jewellery box. The model’s taste for jewels is actually pretty eclectic, encompassing designs from different eras. In the mix are elaborate Victorian baubles, geometric Art Deco styles and even Indian jewellery, collected from Moss’ travels to India as a teenager.

These influences shine through in the new, 70 piece high jewellery collection, which include sets of earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, headpieces and nose jewellery. Some highlights include a tasseled sautoir, sunburst hoops, a three finger ring, and dangling earrings set with pear shaped malachite crystals, after all, are having a moment in jewellery.

These are all enhanced with Messika’s careful selection of diamonds, which are of the highest quality and certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Messika herself has an intimate understanding of the gems, being the daughter of French diamond dealer André Messika.

Yet none of that steers the Messika by Kate Moss collection away from the modern ethos at the heart of the jewellery brand. As luxuriously as they are crafted, the designs are meant to be effortlessly worn to everyday affairs, not tucked away preciously in a jewellery box. That design approach is shared with other diamond jewellery designers such as Hong Kong based Nicholas Lieou and British designer Monica Vinader, reflecting the tastes of women today.

The entire Messika by Kate Moss collection is slated to launch in November.

Source: lifestyleasia

Sotheby’s is set to auction off one of the rarest diamonds in the world

Sotheby’s is set to auction off a 102 carat diamond that could become the most expensive jewel ever sold to an online bidder.

The stone, a 102.39 carat D Colour Flawless Oval Diamond, could fetch $10 million to $30 million. Only seven flawless white diamonds of more than 100 carats have ever been sold at auction. It is the second-largest oval diamond of its kind ever sold at auction.

“One hundred-carat diamonds as a rule are exceedingly rare,” said Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby’s jewelry department in New York. “One hundred-carat D flawless are even more rare.”

While Sotheby’s doesn’t have an official estimate, comparable diamonds have sold for between $11 million and $30 million in the past, Bruning said.

The stone, described by Sotheby’s as “the size of a lollipop,” will be sold at a live auction in Hong Kong on Oct. 5, but it will also be open to online bidders starting on Tuesday. If it’s purchased by an online bidder, it would likely top the record for the most expensive piece of jewelry ever sold online a pair of fancy blue and pink diamond earrings that sold for $6 million online in 2016.

The 102 carat stone was cut from a 271 carat rough diamond that was discovered in the Victor Mine in Ontario in 2018. The diamond was cut and polished over the course of a year by Diacore to bring out its “best brilliance, fire and scintillation,” according to Sotheby’s. The stone belongs to an elite subgroup of diamonds known as “Type IIa,” which are the most chemically pure type of diamond with the highest level of transparency.

Demand for the rarest, largest diamonds has strengthened during the coronavirus pandemic, as the wealthy have benefited from stronger stock markets and investors look for long-term stores of value in a financial world awash with cash.

While demand for everyday jewelry sold in stores has plunged since people aren’t visiting malls and shops as often, or wearing jewelry as often prices for so-called investible diamonds have remained strong. Wealthy buyers, especially in Asia and the Middle East, covet diamonds as the ultimate hard-asset, since they are durable and portable.

Sales of jewelry and diamonds online have also increased, as people buy more from home. Sotheby’s said its online jewelry sales have totaled $31 million this year, seven times more than the same period last year. It has sold three lots for more than $1 million online.

“The retail experience going into the store, trying things on that’s gone right now, or at the very least has changed substantially,” Bruning said. “A lot of things have moved online, and we have been able to really capitalize on that by showcasing things in a new and compelling kind of way globally.”

When asked whether the buyer of a 100 carat diamond would ever wear it, he said: “Absolutely. They want to enjoy them.”

Source; CNBC