Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood – Page 25

Civil society challenges complacency of the Kimberley Process (Mining Review Africa – March 2020)

March 6, 2020

https://www.miningreview.com/

Addressing government and industry representatives in New York the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition questioned the often-hailed contribution of the KP to preventing conflict and promoting development.

A conflict prevention tool?

During events organized around the adoption of the UN Resolution in New York, CSC representative from Zimbabwe, Mukasiri Sibanda, pressed the Process to stop the obstinate self-praise and finally face its long-known weaknesses.

The UN Resolution presents the Kimberley Process as “an effective multilateral tool for conflict prevention”, “but when has the Kimberley Process actually prevented any conflict from emerging?” questioned Sibanda.

Scientists are hunting for diamond mines in India — with help from earthquake data – by Mohana Basu (The Print India – February 21, 2020)

February 21, 2020

https://theprint.in/

A 3-member team is mapping how waves generated by quakes travel through the Earth’s uppermost layers to detect potential diamond mines in the country.

New Delhi: A three-member team of scientists is trying to locate new diamond mines in India by studying how waves generated by earthquakes travel through the rocks of the Earth’s uppermost layers.

The researchers, from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, are using seismic imaging techniques, similar to medical CT scans, to analyse how waves generated during earthquakes travel through the layers under the Earth’s surface.

Their work is based on their own research published in the Journal of Earth System Science last year. The research found that in regions of India’s diamond corridor — which includes Dharwar, Bastar and Singhbhum blocks in south-eastern India — these waves have a higher velocity than usual.

The 25 Most Famous Diamonds Mines of the World (Diamonds Examiner – January 21, 2018)

February 6, 2020

https://www.diamonds-examiner.com/

You’ve certainly heard about the most famous diamonds of the world like the Hope Diamond, the Koh-i-Noor or the Cullinan diamond. But do you know from which diamonds mines they are coming from? Read this post to learn about it.

1. Cullinan Diamond Mine

The Cullinan Diamond Mine, previously known as the Premier Mine (renamed in late 2003), is an underground mine located in today’s Gauteng Province of South Africa, in the eponymous town of Cullinan (both the mine and the town were named after Thomas Cullinan, a diamond magnate of South African origin).

Much as the new name would imply, this is the mine that yielded the largest rough stone in the world to date – the 3,106.75-carat Cullinan (unearthed in 1905, only three years after the mine’s establishment). Cullinan I and Cullinan II are the most prominent cut stones in the Crown Jewels of the UK.

[India Diamonds] Mine-swept out of the game – by M Ramesh (The Hindu – June 24, 2016)

February 6, 2020

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

India’s last functioning diamond mine faces closure next week. Where did it all go wrong for a country that was once the only supplier of diamonds? On June 29, Lesedi la Rona, the second biggest diamond ever discovered, will go under the hammer at the auctioneer Sotheby’s.

A day later, India — the first diamond miner and the world’s only supplier until the 18th century — will see the closure of its only diamond mine in production today. Supreme Court’s orders!

And so, it is a happening week for diamond enthusiasts in India. I was not one, would never have been one, given my inveterate dislike for jewels, but I slowly got sucked into the world of sparkling stones when I was researching for my novel, Silence of the Cicadas, which has something to do with diamonds.

Blood, diamonds and dynasties on a little explored Indian plateau – by Ute Junker (Australian Financial Review – February 7, 2020)

February 6, 2020

https://www.afr.com/

The forgotten empires of the southern highlands left behind some of the subcontinent’s most remarkable ruins, temples and palaces.

They say it took months to sack the city. The palaces went up in flames; so did the elephant stables. The raging heat from the conflagration cracked the famous singing columns in the temples and the fearsome stone walls that ringed the city, and evaporated the water from the canals that sluiced water to the orchards and the ornamental pools. It was a spectacular fall, one that matched the dazzling rise of India’s richest city, Vijayanagara, the City of Victory, the hub of a mighty empire.

Never heard of Vijayanagara? You’re not alone. While the former princely strongholds of Rajasthan are among India’s most popular tourist destinations, the royal dynasties that flourished on the Deccan – the highlands that dominate much of India’s southern half – are far less well known. Yet for millenniums, empires rose and fell here.

The Pallava and Satavahana, Kakatiya and Maratha are names that are virtually unknown outside India, yet the dynasties of the Deccan offer some of India’s most remarkable sights to explore.

Silver screen engagement rings get second life in popular culture – by Madison Darbyshire (Financial Times – January 24, 2020)

February 6, 2020

https://www.ft.com/

Spoiler alert: If a couple gets engaged inside a Tiffany’s store or visits to pick out a ring at the beginning of a film, chances are they will not be together by the end. Yet though these two on-screen romances did not last, the jewellery featured lives on in the real world.

Tiffany’s still sells the diamond flower ring (shown above) used in Meg Ryan’s ill-fated Sleepless in Seattle proposal, as well as the exceedingly large diamond solitaire Patrick Dempsey gave Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. Tiffany & Co, with its little blue boxes, invented the modern engagement ring and became the jeweller most associated with romantic engagements in the popular culture.

Jewellery selected for film is carefully considered for both its aesthetic as well as narrative value. The use of a traditional diamond ring brand such as Tiffany’s in film is significant. “A diamond solitaire just signifies engagement,” says Laura Lambert, founder of online jewellery start-up, Fenton & Co. Yet, “there’s nothing special about it”.

Zimbabwe: ZCDC Sets Sight On Doubling Diamond Production – by Donald Nyarota (All Africa – February 3, 2020)

February 3, 2020

https://allafrica.com/

The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company (ZCDC) failed to meet its 2019 target of 3 million carats, but officials are buoyant fortunes will turn around as the firm has consolidated its investments in exploration, mining and processing to improve output this year.

Speaking durng a media tour of Chiadzwa diamond fields on Friday last week, Acting ZCDC Chief Executive Officer Roberto DePreto said they are aiming to double the 1.6 million carats produced last year through joint venture agreements, increased exploration as well as mitigating viability challenges, linked to power shortages and access to foreign currency.

“Since the Diamond Policy was issued we are now looking for joint venture partners, those joint venture partners get allocated a particular concession and we then subdivide the (overall) 626 special grant into specific special grants for those venture companies.

THE WOMAN SHAKING UP THE DIAMOND INDUSTRY – by Ed Caesar (The New Yorker Magazine – January 27, 2020)

January 27, 2020

https://www.newyorker.com/

Eira Thomas’s company has used radical new methods to find some of the biggest uncut gems in history.

At the Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana, the most highly secured section of the compound is known as the Red Zone. This is where the gems are sorted. To enter, you must walk, alone, through a sequence of thick doors activated by fingerprint scans. Inside, there are strict rules. You cannot touch another human being. Everyone must wear a blue, pocketless smock. Phones are not allowed.

In September, when I visited Karowe, I was given special dispensation to carry a notebook and a pen into the Red Zone. I was told that if I dropped my things I should bend down slowly to retrieve them, then stand up and show the recovered items to the nearest camera. On leaving the Red Zone, everyone, including chief executives, is strip-searched.

Nobody in the Red Zone ever touches a diamond with a naked hand. There are two sorting rooms, in which workers organize the mine’s produce by size and shape, using gloves affixed to sealed and glass-fronted cabinets.

GemFair can positively transform ASM sector, says De Beers – by Simone Liedtke (MiningWeekly.com – January 21, 2020)

January 21, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector is in need of formalisation in order to establish itself as a legitimate source of diamond supply; however, faced with complex mining ecosystems and operating conditions that are vastly different from the large-scale diamond mining sector, De Beers says “the approach to supporting formalisation must be tailored, incremental and robust”.

While the ASM sector represents an important source of global diamond production and is a critical livelihood, artisanal miners face many challenges, including a lack of capital, low productivity and informal practices, according to the diamond miner.

Additionally, De Beers says legacy concerns regarding conflict diamonds also mean that ASM diamonds are “often perceived negatively by consumers, when the reality is that the vast majority of ASM production is not from conflict zones”.

Court sides with environmental groups in ongoing De Beers lawsuit – by Elena De Luigi (Timmins Press – January 13, 2020)

January 14, 2020

https://www.timminspress.com/

“There needs to be accountability. We need our regulators to step up and do their job.”

The courts have ruled in favour of an environmental group that accused De Beers Canada of allegedly failing to report mercury monitoring data collected at the Victor Diamond Mine to the provincial regulator. The Victor Diamond Mine is located on wetlands along the Attawapiskat River near Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay Coast.

Timmins provincial court Justice David A. Thomas granted the appeal made by Trevor Hesselink, the director of Wildlands League, the non-profit organization that accused De Beers in 2015 of breaching a section of the Ontario Water Resources Act on an ongoing basis between June 2009 and July 2016.

Hesselink alleged DeBeers failed to self-monitor and report on the mine’s “effluent discharge,” specifically the levels of mercury and methyl mercury seeping into the Attawapiskat River.

Outlook 2020: Diamond crisis averted, bigger crisis looms – by Michael McCrae (Kitco News – December 26, 2019)

January 6, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The closing of the Argyle Mine in Australia should jump-start the suffering diamond market, said Paul Zimnisky, independent diamond analyst and consultant, who talked to Kitco earlier this month.

Last month, Rio Tinto announced November’s tender from its exhausted Argyle Mine, which produces around 90% of the world’s pink diamonds, which are the most expensive gems on the market. Argyle mine is also the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume, largely accounting for low-value diamonds.

“I think that’s probably by far the most anticipated supply catalyst for the industry,” said Zimnisky. Oversupply hit the diamond market hard in 2019. De Beers reported a 26% revenue drop, and Quebec diamond-producer Stornoway was forced to file for creditor protection due to weak revenues.

Everything You Need To Know About Natural Diamonds – by Eliza Huber (Refinery29.com – December 18, 2019)

December 18, 2019

https://www.refinery29.com/

From the early ‘90s until 2000, there was a high cost involved with buying a diamond — and we’re not talking about the price tag. If there was ever a purchase that you’d want to be proud of, diamonds would be it. After all, they’re exchanged as a symbol of love and commitment, and passed down through generations.

But conflict diamonds — diamonds mined in a war zone to finance militant activities — cast a shadow on the glamorous world of luxury jewellery. Unfortunately, if your diamond was sourced in a war-torn country like Sierra Leone, Angola, or the Democratic Republic of Congo in the ‘90s, it could be a symbol of something much more dismal.

Amidst the growing consciousness of consumers and brands alike, the industry has changed — a lot. In 2000, the Kimberley Process (KP) was established to act as a global trade authority against conflict diamond mining. Today, it represents 81 countries, with the European Union counting as one unit, and is responsible for nearly eradicating the practice, preventing around 99.8% of the global production of conflict diamonds, according to the organisation’s website.

Alrosa and Everledger introduce program for blockchain-enabled diamonds – by Elizabeth Cope (Global Mining Review – December 17, 2019)

December 17, 2019

https://www.globalminingreview.com/

Alrosa and Everledger are introducing a WeChat Mini Program to Chinese retailers, demonstrating the ability of blockchain technology to enable the purchase of diamonds with transparency of their origin, characteristics and ownership history.

Created by diamond producer Alrosa and technology company Everledger, the program pilot aims to provide transparent and secure diamond information for potentially a billion active WeChat users. It is also the first product to capitalise on the synergy between Everledger and their new investor, Tencent, which operates the WeChat social platform.

The program pilot will showcase diamonds from Alrosa, enabling full traceability from mine to consumer. It will be offered as a white label API for jewellery manufacturers and retailers in China who wish to offer consumers more innovative and insightful stories about their products and their brand.

Alrosa to mine first diamonds from Angola in mid-2020 as market “improving” – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 11, 2019)

December 11, 2019

https://www.mining.com/

The world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa (MCX:ALRS) said on Wednesday it planned to start trial mining at a new section of its Luaxe deposit in Angola by mid-2020.

The Russian miner and its partner Catoca Mining — the country’s state-owned diamond company — found Luaxe’s Luele pipe in 2013. They have since been analyzing the deposit’s potential, which they believe may turn out to be the largest diamond discovery in the last 60 years.

Luaxe is located 25 km from the giant Catoca operation — Angola’s largest diamond mine — and is estimated to have the potential to yield up to 350 million carats of diamonds during its productive life. Next year alone, the mine is expected to produce 1 million carats of diamonds worth $90 million, Alrosa said in a workshop hosted by the company.

I’m a Jewelry Nerd, So I Went to Africa to Learn Firsthand About Diamond Mines – by Lauren Eggertsen (Who What Where.com – December 5, 2019)

December 5, 2019

https://www.whowhatwear.com/

Unless you work in the jewelry industry, chances are everything you know about diamond mines is based on hearsay, stereotypes, or, if you’re really out of the loop, the movie Blood Diamond. The misconceptions surrounding this industry are monstrous, and up until recently, I knew little to nothing about what really goes into mining diamonds.

Am I a jewelry nerd? Yes. But no article found on the internet could have educated me as well as my recent trip to Africa where I got to see a diamond mine firsthand and ask all the questions I had been dying for someone to explain to me.

Forevermark, a subsidiary diamond company within De Beers Group, took me to its Orapa Mine in Botswana, and all I can say is, everything I thought I knew about diamond mines was completely wrong.