Southstone Minerals recovers many large, high quality diamonds

Southstone Minerals

Southstone Minerals Ltd. [SML-TSXV] provided a production and operational update for December 1, 2019, to February 28, 2020 (Q2 2020), and March 1 to May 31, 2020 (Q3 2020), on its project portfolio in South Africa.

The Oena Project consists of one New Order Mining Lease located in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Oena is 8,800 hectares in size and covers a 4.8-km wide strip along a 15-km length of the lower Orange River. Southstone owns 43% of African Star Minerals (Pty) Limited which owns 100% of the property.

Southstone continues to focus and prioritize its efforts on the alluvial Oena diamond mine. There is currently one mining contractor on site using eight pan plants to process run-of-mine (ROM) material and one Bourevestnik (BVX) unit used for diamond recovery.

Production results for both Q1 and Q2 were impacted as a result of the mandatory closure of the mine for the period from March 26, 2020, to May 3, 2020, due to COVID-19. A total of 803.92 carats (112 diamonds) were produced, placed on tender and sold with an average price of US $1,957 per carat.

Bluedust Carats produced No. of stones US$/carat

Q2 2020 ROM 588.14 77 1,942

Q3 2020 ROM 215.78 35 2,001

The Oena diamond mine continues to produce very large and high-quality diamonds. For example, 52.62 carats (sold for US $127,975), 44.25 carats (US$243,000), and 37.03 carats ($188,962). Twenty other stones were greater than 10 carats.

Kwena Group, Republic of South Africa

Shareholders approved the disposition of the Kwena Group on May 15, 2020, and the company received final approval from the TSX Venture Exchange on the May 25, 2020. This disposition of the Kwena Group resulted in a total of 4,527,416 shares being returned to treasury and the forgiveness of outstanding indebtedness of the equivalent of $1.2-million.

Southstone agreed to settle an outstanding debt of $35,430 to two creditors by issuing 708,600 shares at $0.05 per share, subject to TSXV approval.

Source: resourceworld.com

Natural Diamond Council makes marketing push

Natural Diamond Council

The Diamond Producers’ Association (DPA), established only five years ago by a coalition of diamond miners including De Beers and Alrosa, has relaunched as the Natural Diamond Council.

In addition to continuing to advertise natural diamonds as the DPA did previously, the council is also hoping to reach younger consumers by producing catchy editorial content on trends and innovations in diamond jewelry and the heritage of natural diamonds.

The rebranding comes at a difficult time for the diamond sector, with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic depressing demand and prices.

“The current economic climate creates unprecedented challenges for the luxury industry. But, as the climate improves, natural diamonds will connect stronger than ever before,” said Natural Diamond Council CEO, David Kellie in a release. “Consumers will have a greater respect for all things natural and seek brands that have an honest mission to be truly sustainable. They’ll be purchasing luxury goods with a greater meaning, particularly those celebrating connections between friends and loved ones. We need to speak to the younger audience in a different way and we’re delighted to have brought in a number of partners that will contribute to the new world of natural diamonds we’re creating.”

The website will offer coverage under six categories: Epic Diamonds, Hollywood & Pop Culture, Love & Diamonds, Style & Innovation, Diamonds 101 and Inside the Diamond World. The council has also started a new, biannual trend report written by style experts, forecasting diamond jewelry trends, and incorporating styling tips.

In addition, the DPA’s Real is Rare, Real is a Diamond campaign will be replaced with the council’s new branding: “Only Natural Diamonds” (OND).

“Our new digital platforms will inspire and inform consumers globally about the values and heritage of natural diamonds, as well as promoting the significant innovation happening throughout the world of diamond jewelry,” added NDC’s managing director, Kristina Buckley Kayel. “The younger audience is clearly engaged and inspired when we present ourselves with authority in the digital world. It’s our aim to be number one across all digital platforms in our industry and our ambitious plans reflect these goals.”

The Natural Diamond Council will also aim to educate consumers on the sustainability and ethical practices of diamond producers, as well as everything they need to know when buying diamond jewelry.

In a release, the organization said the relaunch reflects the collective commitment of its members, Alrosa, De Beers, Dominion Diamonds, Lucara Diamond, Petra Diamonds, Murowa Diamonds, and Rio Tinto, to the growth of the industry beyond the current economic crisis.

“Our mission is to educate consumers on the industry and positive social contribution diamonds make to the world today,” said Stephen Lussier, Chairman of the NDC. “Our members are committed to these goals and the launch of the NDC marks an exciting step on this path.”

Visit www.naturaldiamonds.com for more information.

Dominion Diamond unveils plan to avoid bankruptcy

Ekati diamond mine

Canada’s Dominion Diamond Mines has unveiled a transaction that would allow it to exit court protection from creditors and access short-term operating funds, which would pave the way to eventually restart its idled Ekati mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

The company, which owns and operates the iconic Ekati diamond mine and also has a 40% interest in the nearby Diavik, said it had signed a letter of intent with an affiliate of The Washington Companies.

The privately held Montana-based conglomerate bought Dominion for $1.2 billion in 2017 when the miner was the world’s third-largest producer of rough diamonds by value.

Under the agreement, which requires court approval, Washington would buy the company’s assets for about $177 million, while assuming its operating liabilities.

It would also provide Dominion with up to $84 million in short-term debtor-in-possession financing.

Ekati has been halted since March to help slow down the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The operation was left with about $180 million worth of inventory, which it has been unable to sell since its Belgian retailers remain closed. 

The diamond miner said at the time that covid-19 had a “devastating impact” on the global diamond mining industry, affecting the company.

According to court documents seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors, Dominion revenue from diamond sales last year reached about $528 million.

The company said the proposed sale would be conditional on reaching an agreement with Rio Tinto on the Diavik joint venture. Failing that, Dominion would exclude its interest in the Yellowknife diamond mine from the transaction.

The miner is a major employer in the Northwest Territories, with 634 workers, 60% of whom are locals. Only 212 people are currently at the mines, which are fly-in and fly-out operations. This allows for a pre-screening of the staff before they are allowed to board flights to Ekati and Diavik.

Shattered dreams

The global coronavirus outbreak squashed diamond miners’ dawning hopes of a recovery in a sector already reeling from weak prices and demand since late 2018.

De Beers, the world’s largest producer by value, cut 2020 production guidance by a fifth last month after earlier cancelling its April sales event.

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond producer by output, saw sales for rough and polished diamonds drop to $15.6 million. The figure stood in stark contrast to the $152.8 million the diamond miner fetched in March and the $405 million in January.

Lucara Diamond, another Canadian company, posted earlier this month a net loss of $3.2 million, or $0.01 a share, for the first three months of the year.

The figure was in sharp contrast with the $7.4 million in net income, or $0.02 in earning per share the miner reported in the same period last year.

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds recently delayed interest payments to borrow $21 million in new debt, a crucial move to keep the company afloat.

Investment banks are increasingly reluctant to extend credit to diamond producers, as inventory is not being sold and defaults are possible, analysts have warned.

“We are concerned about an oversupply of rough diamonds following the reopening of economies, as a lot of inventory could potentially be flooded into the system and the market might not be able to absorb all of it, resulting in increased pricing pressure,” Citi said in an early May note.

Source: mining.com

Study yields new insight in hunt for rare, valuable yellow diamonds

Yellow diamonds, some with colourless cores

A new study by University of Alberta scientists could help guide the search for rare, high-value yellow diamonds in the Canadian North.

The researchers, led by PhD student Mei Yan Lai, examined the chemical makeup of stones recovered from the Chidliak and Ekati mines in Northern Canada to get a better understanding of how they formed.

“Without this research, we wouldn’t know that two separate formation events occurred, and that the second, more recent event is responsible for the yellow colour,” explained U of A diamond geologist Thomas Stachel.

“The more we know about the origin of these potentially high-value diamonds, the better results for diamond exploration and value creation in Northern Canada.”

Lai said they wanted to understand the origin of the yellow colour in the diamonds from the two deposits.

“Canadian yellow diamonds have never been studied spectroscopically in detail. Our results suggest that the cause is the preservation of unstable single nitrogen atoms preserved inside the diamonds,” explained Lai, who conducted this research as part of her master’s studies in the Diamond Exploration Research Training School under the supervision of Stachel.

The research team determined that some yellow diamonds contain colourless cores, meaning that the yellow outer layers crystallized on top of clearer centres. Lai determined that the yellow diamonds crystallized no more than 30,000 years before the kimberlite eruptions that brought them up to Earth’s surface.

“Our analysis shows that the colourless cores in these yellow diamonds are about one billion years older,” Lai said. “In fact, the carbon isotope compositions and nitrogen concentrations of the colourless cores and yellow outer layers are significantly different, suggesting that they formed in at least two distinct events and involved different diamond-forming fluids.”

The researchers said discovering a potential new source of yellow diamonds in the Canadian North is economically significant, as the previous main source of high-quality yellow diamonds, the Ellendale Mine in Western Australia, was recently shut down.

The discovery of colourless cores in some of the yellow diamonds may also be of interest to the jewelry trade, said Lai.

“Occasionally, rough yellow diamonds lose their vibrant yellow colour after being cut and polished—probably because this kind of diamond has a thin layer of yellow overgrowth on top of the geologically older colourless core,” she said.

The project is a collaboration with Dominion Diamond Mines and Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. Part of the analyses were done at the Gemological Institute of America.

The research is supported by a bursary through DERTS, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Collaborative Research and Training Experience program.

The study, “Yellow Diamonds With Colourless Cores—Evidence for Episodic Diamond Growth Beneath Chidliak and the Ekati Mine, Canada,” was published in Mineralogy and Petrology.

Source: miragenews

WD Sues Diamond Growers over CVD Patents

A 9.04-carat round brilliant produced by WD Lab Grown Diamonds in 2018 using chemical vapor deposition.

The companies behind WD Lab Grown Diamonds have filed three lawsuits against competitors, accusing them of infringing patents for diamond synthesis and treatment.

The Carnegie Institution of Washington, a science organization, and M7D Corporation, which trades as WD Lab Grown Diamonds, took action Thursday again six companies that produce or sell diamonds made using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

One of the complaints targets Pure Grown Diamonds (PGD) and IIa Technologies, which produces CVD goods for PGD. A second filing is against Mahendra Brothers, a De Beers sightholder, and its affiliate, Fenix Diamonds. The third suit takes aim at Altr, another lab-grown supplier, and its owner, R.A. Riam.

Carnegie invented and patented a version of CVD, known as microwave-plasma CVD (MPCVD), that can create a purer diamond because it doesn’t involve electrodes, which often contaminate the product, according to the lawsuits. It also patented a method for enhancing a stone’s visual characteristics through heat treatment at high pressure and temperature. M7D holds the license to both patents, the three similar lawsuits continued.

“The existence of the patents…are well-known in the lab-grown diamond industry, and in particular are well-known by lab-grown diamond manufacturers, importers and sellers,” Carnegie and M7D claimed.

Carnegie and M7D are seeking damages and a judgment declaring that the six companies violated their patents. The companies were not available for comment Sunday.

Source: Diamonds.net

Christie’s Garners $11M at London Auction

Christies London diamond ring

Christie’s brought in GBP 8.3 million ($10.7 million) from its Important Jewels sale in London on Wednesday, with pearls dominating the event.

The priciest was a cut-cornered rectangular step-cut, 18.02-carat, D-color, VVS1-clarity, type IIa diamond ring, which fetched GBP 881,250 ($1.1 million) against an estimate of GBP 800,000 to GBP 1.2 million ($1 million to $1.6 million). Four of the top 10 lots were jewelry items featuring pearls, which sold for well over their high estimates.

An emerald, diamond and cultured-pearl necklace by Meister, set with a rectangular cut-cornered, 10.99-carat emerald, garnered GBP 275,000 ($355,943), almost 23 times its GBP 12,000 ($15,532) high estimate. Meanwhile, a necklace containing 45 natural pearls went for GBP 268,750 ($347,922), well above its GBP 120,000 ($155,351) high valuation.

A pair of 19th-century natural-pearl earrings, which previously belonged to Eugénie de Montijo, the last empress of France and wife of Emperor Napoleon III, fetched GBP 237,500 ($307,375), smashing its GBP 80,000 ($103,537) upper estimate. A set of button-shaped, natural-pearl and diamond earrings, went for GBP 187,500 ($242,696), exceeding its GBP 80,000 ($103,537) high presale valuation.

Other notable items included a diamond necklace by Shinde, which garnered GBP 539,250 ($697,908), nearly three times its GBP 200,000 ($258,844) high valuation, and a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace from the mid-20th century, which swept past its GBP 150,000 ($194,206) upper valuation, bringing in GBP 347,250 ($449,587).

Source: Diamonds.net

Zimbabwe to Take Smaller Cut of Diamond Sales

A Rough Diamond from Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe plans to reduce the percentage of sales diamond miners must pay to the state, aiming to encourage companies to invest in the Marange fields.

The government proposed a new royalty rate of 10% in the annual budget last week. Diamond producers currently pay 15% of gross revenues, but their overall costs have escalated as they shift toward hard-rock — or “conglomerate” — mining, which is lucrative but expensive.

The change could benefit companies such as Russia’s Alrosa, which is exploring for rough in the country, as well as Botswana Diamonds and Vast Resources, which operate a joint venture at the Marange fields.

“The royalty rate of 15% on diamonds was set during the period when mining was predominantly alluvial, and extraction cost was relatively low,” Mthuli Ncube, minister of finance and economic development, explained in his budget statement. “However, diamond miners are [now] exploiting conglomerate deposits, hence the cost of extraction has significantly increased.”

Last year, the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company installed a crushing plant at Marange to help it process the harder rock. The nation plans to increase its annual production to 11 million carats by 2023, from 3.2 million carats in 2018, Reuters reported last month.

The state intends to introduce the lower royalty rate on January 1 with the goal of attracting investment in exploration and extraction. The country has also made progress in its plans to repeal an “indigenization” law limiting foreign ownership of diamond and platinum mines, Ncube continued.

Source: Diamonds.net

De Beers boosted by jump in diamond sales

De Beers diamonds

De Beers has surprised analysts by selling more diamonds than expected at its latest sale.

The world’s largest diamond producer, which is owned by Anglo American, sold $390m of rough stone this month, compared with $297m at its previous sale in October and above market expectations of around $300m.

“The company has attributed this rebound in sales to signs of increasing polished price stability leading to improving sentiment from rough diamond buyers,” said analysts at Citi.

However, the latest “sight” marks the first time De Beers has sold less than $400m of diamonds in November since 2016, illustrating the tough conditions in the diamond industry.

Diamond buyers, who polish and cut gems for retailers, have been struggling to make money this year as the price of finished stones has slumped. That has forced De Beers to offer more flexible terms to buyers, something that continued in November.

At the same time, the industry is facing competition from lab-grown diamonds, which are chemically identical to traditional stones.

“Global consumer demand for diamond jewellery at the retail level continues to be broadly stable but with midstream trading conditions still in the process of rebalancing, we offered sightholders further flexibility during the sight to provide support,” said De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver in a statement

Citi expects rough diamond sales to fall 23 per cent to $4.3bn this year. De Beers is expected to generate around 10 per cent of Anglo’s earnings in 2019.

Source: FT.com

Drake buys himself $500K heart-shaped diamond ring for his birthday

drake

The “Hotline Bling” rapper can’t stop buying more and more diamond rings to add to his collection. The latest? A 22 carat heart shaped ring set in platinum to celebrate his 33rd birthday.

Created by Gemma Fine Jewelry, Drizzy’s insane design features one enormous bezel-set diamond and also includes three hearts in the bridge underneath the massive rock. The love centric theme could be a testament to just how much the Toronto native adores himself, but jeweler Ori Vechler also called him “the King of Hearts.”

According to Ajay Anand, CEO of Rare Carat, Drake’s new sparkler could have cost around $500,000. “Heart shaped diamonds are one of the most unpopular diamond shapes, because they are so tricky to cut right,” Anand said. “This is a great example of one cut very well, which is quite rare.”

Drake Heart Shape Diamond
Drake Heart Shape Diamond

It seems like the unconventional shape is enjoying a bit of a comeback; Offset also recently gifted wife Cardi B with a similar design for her 27th birthday.

Drake debuted the bling at his star studded mobster themed birthday party last week, where he was also sporting his custom Toronto Raptors championship ring, which boasts more than 30 carats of diamonds.

Suffice it to say that Drizzy’s heading into his 33rd year with a lot more sparkle.

Source: pagesix

Alrosa finds diamond over 230 carats, largest in three years

alrosa octahedron 232 rough diamond

The world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa , has unearthed a unique rough diamond weighing over 232 carats, the largest gem-quality specimen found in more than three years.

THE GEM nQUALITY OCTAHEDRON WAS FOUND AT THE UDACNHAYA KIMBERLITE, IN THE YAKUTIA REGION OF SIBERIA

Alrosa 232 carat rough diamond at yakutia
Alrosa 232 carat rough diamond at yakutia

The diamond, dug up at the Udacnhaya kimberlite pipe on October 19, is an octahedron of yellowish hue with several chips. Its dimensions are 40х39х23 mm.

“Such large gem-quality crystals are extremely rare,” deputy chief executive, Evgeny Agureev, said in the statement. “We have not seen them since 2016, when two diamonds weighing over 200 carats were mined.”

Discovered in 1955, the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe is one of the largest primary diamond deposits in the Yakutia region of Siberia and globally. Its diamond output reached 2.385 million carats in the first nine months of 2019.

Alrosa produced more than 43 million carats of diamonds in 2018 from its Russian mines, or about 27% of the world’s total. That’s 18% more than its closest competitor, Anglo American’s De Beers.

Alrosa finds diamond over 230 carats, largest in three years

Source: mining.com