Diamonds – Page 6 – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

New Diamond Verification Device Introduced Natural Vs. Lab Grown Diamonds

A new device, the DiamondProof, can rapidly and reliably distinguish natural diamonds from laboratory-grown diamonds and other diamond simulants.

One of the most common misconceptions in the ongoing debate between natural and non-natural diamonds is that it’s impossible to tell the difference between the two. Research shows that almost half of consumers are unaware that laboratory-grown diamonds (LGDs) can be detected from their natural counterparts. For consumers who are investing in diamonds and diamond jewelry, this means there is perhaps a lack of assurance that they are getting what they think they are paying for. This spring, with the introduction of a new verification device, the DiamondProof, to retail stores for the first time, consumers will be able to make informed purchasing decisions and distinguish natural diamonds from non-natural diamonds, like LGDs and other diamond simulants, with a zero percent ‘false positive rate’.

Developed by the De Beers Group, the DiamondProof technology can detect the distinct chemical compositions of natural diamonds, allowing for precise and rapid identification. Early adopters of the DiamondProof include some of the largest jewelry retailers in the U.S., and the device will also be available in several independent retail outlets to ensure that any diamond consumer can try out the technology and gain assurance on their jewelry, or diamonds they are planning to purchase. The first DiamondProof prototype instrument was unveiled last June at the JCK show in Las Vegas, the premier jewelry expo for retail professionals. Many quickly jumped on board and ordered the device for their stores, noting the ability to rapidly and easily screen both loose diamonds as well as stones set in jewelry. “Natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds are two fundamentally different products. Natural diamonds are rare, one-of-a-kind miracles of nature that come to us from the earth through heat, pressure, and time.” notes CEO of De Beers Brands Sandrine Conseiller. “This incredible journey is what makes them the ultimate marker of life’s most profound emotional moments. Consumers should be able to have confidence in such a meaningful purchase, and DiamondProof allows retailers to offer them greater peace of mind. We are in a new era of transparency at retail, and customers deserve to know what they are buying.”

“By rapidly and reliably identifying whether a diamond is natural, DiamondProof is instrumental in enhancing consumer confidence in natural diamond purchases. Consumers deserve clarity and having DiamondProof available in retail settings helps them make informed decisions while appreciating the unique value and story behind each natural diamond. With decades of leadership in synthetic-detection technology, we are committed to providing the level of transparency that consumers expect,” stated Sarandos Gouvelis, SVP, of Pricing, Product and Technology Development at De Beers Group. For anyone looking to evaluate and verify their diamond jewelry or looking for assurance in new diamond purchases, a major retailer near you will soon have a DiamondProof available.

Source: Seattlemedium

Job Losses at Tiffany Subsidiary in Antwerp

A subsidiary of Tiffany & Co plans to lay off 26 of its 42 staff in Antwerp amid the ongoing slump in demand.

Laurelton Diamonds, a De Beers sightholder, was established in 2002 to procure rough diamonds, and to cut, polish and supply polished stones to its own jewelry manufacturers. It has operations in Belgium, Vietnam, Canada, Botswana, South Africa and beyond.

The company, wholly owned by Tiffany, blames the possible job losses on weak demand from China and the US, together with competition from lab growns.

“For the workforce the news came as a bolt out of the blue,’ said Yves Toutenel of the Christian ACV union ((Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond), according to VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster.

“In 2018, the company closed its cutting plant in Antwerp. At that time, 20 staff were laid off. Laurelton now intends to make 18 blue-collar staff and eight white-collar workers redundant by the autumn.”

He said he feared Laurelton was making redundancies too quickly and said there were early signs that the diamond industry could be recovering.

Source: IDEX

High-Value Recoveries Drive up Gem Revenue

Underlying EBITDA almost doubled to $29.7m and profit for the year increase from $1.6m to $8.1m.

Gem Diamonds saw revenue and profits increase in FY2024, as high-value recoveries more than made up for persistent downward pressure of the diamond market.

In its Full Year 2024 Results published today (13 March), the UK-based miner reported a 10 per cent increase in revenue to $154.2m, largely driven by the sale of 13 +100-cts diamonds from its Letseng mine, in Lesotho.

Underlying EBITDA almost doubled to $29.7m and profit for the year increase from $1.6m to $8.1m.

Exceptional sales included an 11 carat pink diamond that was sold for $45,537 per carat, a 63 carat Type IIa white diamond that was sold for $41,007 per carat (the highest per carat price of the year) and a 113 carat Type IIa white diamond that was sold for $39,345 per carat.

The number of carats recovered during the year fell 4 per cent to 105,012.

Clifford Elphick, CEO at Gem, said: “2024 was another challenging year for the diamond market with decreasing rough and polished diamond prices. Our relentless focus on factors within our control – cost containment, operational efficiencies and appropriate capital allocation, has yielded pleasing results.”

Looking to the future, the company expects the market to remain under pressure during the year, with signs of a modest recovery in diamond prices.

Source: IDEX

52% of Engagement Rings are Now Lab Grown

More than half of all couples are now buying a lab grown diamond engagement ring, according to research carried out in January for The Knot wedding website.

A survey of almost 17,000 couples who married in 2024 found that 52 per cent opted for lab grown – the first time the balance has tipped from natural.

The figure for 2023 was 46 per cent and in 2019 it was just 12 per cent.

Couples are now spending less and getting bigger stones, according to the newly-published The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study.

“The rise in popularity of lab-grown stones is fueling the decrease in the average cost of an engagement ring,” it says.

“2024 served as a continuation of that trend with proposers spending $5,200 on average for their ring. This is a decline from $5,500 in 2023, and $5,800 in 2022.

“Back in 2021, it was $6,000. Lab-grown stones typically begin at a lower price point than mined stones which is reflected in the average cost.

“A proposer purchasing a lab-grown engagement ring could expect to spend $4,900 versus spending $7,600, on average, for a mined diamond engagement ring.”

The average carat weight of an engagement ring bought last year was 1.7 carats, says the study, up from 1.5 carats in 2021.

Source: IDEX

Cleaner Accused of Stealing $1.3m Jewels from Princess

A cleaner has appeared in court in London, charged with stealing diamonds, watches and jewelry worth $1.3m (Â£1m) from her employer, Princess Firyal of Jordan.

Maria Taborda Henao, aged 69, from Colombia, is accused of stealing the items between February and November 2020 and of selling them through an auction house.

The case against her at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (pictured) was adjourned on Monday (10 March) because there wasn’t a Spanish interpreter in court.

Princess Firyal, aged 80, is a noted humanitarian and philanthropist, and has served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1992. She is the former wife of Prince Muhammad bin Talal, the second son of the late King Talal of Jordan.

The thefts of diamond rings, bracelets, watches and earrings allegedly took place at the princess’s $7.5m home in the exclusive Belgravia area of London. The case will resume next month.

Source: IDEX

US Watch and Jewelry Sales Dip in January

Sales of watches and jewelry in the US dipped in January, for the first time in well over a year. They were 3.0 per cent less than the previous January, according to the latest figures from the US Department of Commerce.

In addition, revisions to November and December sales figures now show slower growth than originally reported.

Figures based on actual through-the-till transactions, rather than estimates, put sales at +2.6 per cent and +1.5 per cent respectively, rather than the revised figures of +3.0 per cent and +4.0 per cent.

Sales of watches and jewelry had been in positive growth since October 2023, and they peaked last September and October at around 10 per cent. Prior to that they’d been in overall decline since October 2022.

Source: IDEX

HB Antwerp to Cut Lucara’s 1,094 carat Rough Diamond

The 1,094-carat Seriti diamond recovered last September from Lucara’s Karowe mine, in Botswana, is now in Belgium, where it will be cut by HB Antwerp as part of an ongoing partnership.

HB, founded in 2020, cut the 1,758-carat Sewelo diamond and the 549-carat Sethunya diamond – both of which were recovered at Karowe and both of which were bought by Louis Vuitton.

Exact prices were not disclosed, although Lucara did say last month that the Sethunya and the 1,080 carat Eva Star, sold for a combined $54m. HB gave no details of a buyer for the Seriti.

Seriti is the world’s sixth largest rough diamond, and the sixth +1,000-ct diamond recovered at Karowe.

HB says it will use “groundbreaking technology, traceability, and expertise to unlock the full brilliance of nature’s most exceptional creations”.

That includes its proprietary Hyperloupe technologies, designed specifically for large (up to 6,000 carats) and complex diamonds.

HB has a 10-year contract with Lucara to cut all its +10.8-cts stones. They account for around 70 per cent of the miner’s revenue.

Source: Idex

$127m Diamond Loss for Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto reported a $127m loss for 2024 from its Diavik diamond mine, in Canada, as weak market conditions led to “fixed cost inefficiencies”.

That compares with underlying earnings of $26m in 2023. Rio Tinto’s diamond sector generated $297m of revenue during the year, a 37 per cent drop on $444m the previous year.

The British-Australian multinational emailed over 1,300 employees last September, offering them voluntary separations to reduce operating costs as it prepares to close the mine next year.

In its Full Year Results 2024 the company noted the tragic loss of four Diavik workers and two air crew when a plane headed for the mine crashed last January.

Rio Tinto reported a 17 per cent drop in production, from 3.3m carats in 2023 to 3.4m carats in 2024.

The company acquired full ownership of the mine in November 2021 after it bought out a 40 per cent stake from Dominion Diamond Mines.

Source: Idex

Environmental Backlash over Diamond Foundry Factory

Diamond Foundry, which has just opened a lab grown factory in Trujillo, western Spain, is facing an environmental backlash over claims it uses more water than the entire 8,500-population town where it is located.

Residents at a meeting earlier this month were told the new facility, built with $85m of European Union cash, was estimated to consume more than 730,000 cubic meters of water annually.

The huge facility will produce at least 4m carats a year and create 300 jobs. But environmental groups are concerned about the factory’s water usage, which is, they say “completely unsustainable”.

“There would be enough water for the diamonds but the population of Trujillo would have to buy jugs at the supermarket to drink, shower, cook, etc,” says an article in

Diamond Foundry, a Silicon Valley startup with Leonardo Dicaprio, star of the Blood Diamond movie, among its backers, is valued at $1.8bn.

“The water supply to Diamond Foundry is, once again, also in question, as it would cause serious supply problems for drinking water for the population of Trujillo and its surroundings,” according to the El Salto local news website.

It says the building is one of the first industrial projects in the world powered entirely by solar electricity and insists it holds the necessary permits to use reclaimed water from local treatment plants.

Source: IDEX

Botswana, De Beers sign overdue diamond deal

Botswana’s government signed on Tuesday a long-delayed diamond mining and sales agreement with Anglo American unit De Beers, the world’s leading diamond producer by value.

As part of the deal, Botswana’s share of the diamonds produced by Debswana, a 50-50 joint venture between the country’s government and De Beers, will increase from 25% to 50%. Botswana will receive 10 billion pula ($712 million) in development funding, in line with a provisional 10-year arrangement reached in 2023.

The agreement, in negotiations since 2018, also extends the mining licenses for Debswana until 2054. Previously, the licenses were set to expire in 2029.

The signing of the contract had stalled under former President Mokgweetsi Masisi but was prioritized by President Duma Boko, who took office last October.

Botswana, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by value, depends on the sector for the bulk of its national revenue. President Boko, however, has voiced concerns that the industry is not generating enough employment opportunities.

While Debswana’s diamond production accounts for 80% of Botswana’s exports, the country has struggled to diversify beyond mining. Despite a relatively high annual per capita income of $7,820 — exceeding that of oil-rich Gabon and South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy—job creation remains limited.

The deal comes at a crucial time for De Beers, as its parent company, Anglo American, considers spinning out the diamond business through a sale or initial public offering. Analysts warn that weak global diamond prices could complicate such a move.

Botswana remains integral to De Beers’ operations, supplying 70% of its annual rough diamonds. The government also holds a 15% stake in De Beers, underscoring the long-standing strategic partnership between the two parties.

Source: Mining.com