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Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

Troubled Canadian diamond mine Ekati gets new life as Australian company takes control – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 16, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Burgundy is paying US$136 million to assume control from Arctic Canadian

The Ekati complex, a star-crossed diamond mining operation in Northwest Territories, is getting a new life. Ekati has changed hands several times in the past decade, and has struggled in recent years. But Australia’s Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. sees promise, announcing this week that it would pay US$136 million to assume control from Ekati’s current owner, Arctic Canadian Diamond Co. Ltd.

The deal is expected to close in April. Burgundy, based in Perth and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, said in a press release that the current life-of-mine plan supports operations until 2028, and that investments could further extend mining. In 2022, Ekati delivered US$494 million in revenue and 4.1 million karats of diamonds were recovered, the press release said.

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Why Not All Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Created Equal – by Victoria Gomelsky (JCK Online – March 13, 2023)

JCK Online

Imagine two round brilliant-cut diamonds displayed side by side. Each is 1 ct. in size, F color, VS2 clarity. One is a natural, mined diamond and the other is lab-grown. Most retailers have been taught that beyond their disparate origins, the diamonds are chemically, optically, and physically identical, and that’s the message they’ve conveyed to consumers.

“For years, the trade has repeated these sentiments: that lab and natural diamonds are indistinguishable from each other,” says Lindsay Reinsmith, chief operating officer and director of sales at Ada Diamonds, a lab-grown, direct-to-consumer diamond brand based in San Francisco.

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Why Africa bleeds diamond revenues – by Neusa e Silva (DW.com – February 20, 2023)

https://www.dw.com/en/

Africa holds mineral wealth with diverse commodities that are sought after the world over. In the diamond industry, local communities miss out on profits despite multilateral certification measures.

In diamond-rich parts of Africa, the revenue generated from mineral extraction does little to improve quality of life for the people who live in those countries, with Botswana being the only exception. Instead of uplifting communities through mineral riches, many people find themselves stuck in a vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse.

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4 Predictions for the Diamond Market in 2023 and Beyond – by Michelle Graff (National Jeweler – February 15, 2023)

https://nationaljeweler.com/

Experts and Editor-in-Chief Michelle Graff share views on natural diamond prices, lab-grown supply, and diamond jewelry sales in 2023.

Much to many people’s surprise, 2021 was a banner year for diamond jewelry sales and the party did not slow down as much as expected in 2022. So, what will this year hold?

I consulted industry analyst Paul Zimnisky and De Beers’ 2022 Diamond Insight Report as well as reporting from around the trade to make predictions about diamond supply, demand and consumer behavior in 2023 and beyond.

1. Natural diamond price and supply

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Hidden camera reveals false claims some retailers make during diamond sales – by Katie Pedersen, Jeremy McDonald, Katie Swyers, Rosa Marchitelli (CBC News – February 17, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/

While shopping undercover at some of Canada’s top jewellers, Marketplace journalists came across sales pitches filled with false claims and inconsistent diamond grading reports, all of which could lead consumers to question whether they got what they paid for.

Last year, Canadians who purchased a diamond ring spent on average just over $4,300, according to Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data Ltd. Marketplace journalists posed as secret shoppers to capture the sales pitch on hidden camera at three of Canada’s most popular value retail jewelry chains: Peoples Jewellers, Ben Moss Jewellers, and Michael Hill, visiting three locations for each retailer in Ontario and Alberta.

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Queen Consort Camilla will wear a recycled crown, without cursed diamond – by William Booth (Washington Post – February 14, 2023)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

LONDON — Camilla, the Queen Consort, will wear a recycled crown at the coronation — and not the one showcasing the fabled Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the world’s largest and most controversial gems, said by folklore to be cursed and by India to have been purloined.

When Camilla is crowned alongside her husband, the new King Charles III, at Westminster Abbey on May 6, she will wear the headpiece worn by Queen Mary at the 1911 coronation, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.

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How African gold pays for Russia’s war in Ukraine – by Brian Latham (The Spectator – February 12, 2023)

https://www.spectator.co.uk/

African wars are paying for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least indirectly. When Vladimir Putin was running low on manpower and money in October last year, he turned to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group for more of both. Wagner have had troops in the Donbas region as far back as 2014, though in limited numbers.

Now the Wagner group is providing thousands of troops throughout occupied Ukraine and funding the Russian army with its spoils from Africa. That though is creating a cashflow crisis for Prigozhin whose income is primarily from African gold and diamonds.

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West Bloomfield jeweler explains why new lab formed diamonds are gaining popularity – by Gino Vicci (CBS News Detroit – February 5, 2023)

https://www.cbsnews.com/

The lab grown diamond industry has become more and more popular in recent years. “Laboratory grown diamonds are very popular,” said Joe Yatooma, owner of Dash Diamonds in West Bloomfield. Yatooma said the lab grown diamonds have become a real thing because they are now considered “real” diamonds.

“The reason why we embrace laboratory grown diamonds here at Dash Diamonds is because the Gemologist Institute of America now approves a laboratory grown diamond and grades it,” Yatooma said.

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Nothing Lasts Forever film review — funny and caustic profile of a panicked industry – by Danny Leigh (Financial Times – February 9, 2023)

https://www.ft.com/

Read the room next time you step into a jewellers. You may sense a gnaw of anxiety. The cause is laid bare in Nothing Lasts Forever, Jason Kohn’s funny, caustic documentary of panic in the diamond industry.

Having just about persuaded consumers to forget its grisly history in African war zones, the existential threat to the trade these days is “synthetics”: lab-grown stones impossible to tell from the real thing. Technology is killing even bling.

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U.S. Seeks to Tighten Rules on Russian Diamonds – by Rob Bates (JCK Online – February 2, 2023)

JCK Online

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second year, the United States is looking to tighten its regulations on Russian diamonds—and eliminate the rule that allows the importation of Russian-mined diamonds cut and polished elsewhere.

Belgian officials who spoke with Politico last week said that the European Union and United States hope to develop a “‘watertight’ traceability system” for diamonds as a way to limit Russian gems.

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Wagner Group Plundering CAR Diamonds (ADF Magazine – January 24, 2023)

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New reporting is showing how Russia uses its Wagner Group mercenaries to extract diamonds from the Central African Republic (CAR).

Research published in December 2022 by Belgian newspaper De Standaard, the media network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), and the All Eyes on Wagner project concluded that “in exchange for military support to the government in the CAR, the Russian Wagner Group gets access to precious raw materials.”

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OPINION: Time to put Antwerp’s Russian diamonds on EU sanctions list – by KATHLEEN VAN BREMPT AND VICKY REYNAERT (EU Observer – January 17, 2023)

https://euobserver.com/

Anyone walking around the area surrounding Antwerp’s Central Station can hardly ignore it. Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world. Thanks to its strategic location, the city has been inextricably linked to the trade and processing of the raw stones for centuries.

Around 85 percent of the world’s rough diamonds, half of polished diamonds and 40 percent of industrial diamonds pass through Antwerp. But today a dark shadow looms over the once magnificent diamond quarter. Almost a third of the diamonds for trade in Antwerp come from Russia.

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EU exploring further sanctions against Russian diamond industry – by Samuel Ord (Jeweller Magazine – January 16, 2023)

https://www.jewellermagazine.com/

There have been renewed calls from within the European Union to place further sanctions on Russia’s diamond mining industry in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomats from Poland and Lithuania are reportedly demanding harsher EU sanctions be instated prior to the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv in February. Nine rounds of sanctions have been adopted by the EU against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine with the most recent of these coming into effect in December.

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Shadowy hands behind unrest against Asia’s largest diamond mine – by Shantanu Guha Ray (Sunday Guardian Live – January 8, 2023)

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Buxwaha, Sagar (MP): Troubled by a medley of activists, the Aditya Birla group may have developed second thoughts over a big diamond project in Madhya Pradesh. And no one knows why the protests are happening, or what exactly the demands are of those protesting against the mining.

The mine is inside a forest in Buxwaha, located 200 kms from Sanchi, a sleepy town of stupas, hemispherical structures containing relics of Lord Buddha. The mine is huge, the biggest in Asia. The Bunder diamond block has 34 million carat diamonds, valued at a whopping Rs 55,000 crore. The mine has a potential to catapult India into the world’s ten top rough diamond producers and in the process put the diamonds of Africa to shame.

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Congo: Russian Mercenaries Seek Gold And Diamonds (Strategy Page – December 8, 2022)

https://www.strategypage.com/

In CAR (the Central African Republic) Russian mercenaries appear to have gone into the blood diamond business. Since 2018 Russia has acknowledged it has military trainers and mercenaries in the CAR. The Russian mercenary Wagner Group operates in the country.

A private security company associated with Wagner, Sewa Security Services, is also in the CAR. There is evidence that Sewa Security Services is linked to two companies suspected of exploiting gold and diamond mines in the CAR. Investigators assert that one of the companies, Diamville, is an “alias for Wagner ” in the CAR.

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