Twitter

Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

Are lab-grown diamonds too bling for their own good? – by Staff (Northern Miner – January 7, 2025)

Global mining news

Diamonds grown in the lab are shining brighter than natural stones by grabbing market share, but their kryptonite could be the low prices and large carats indicating they really are in a different category, analysts and companies surveyed by The Wall Street. Journal say.

Post-pandemic demand for diamonds surged in 2021-2022, but then prices dropped by 8% compared with the first quarter of 2020 and lab-grown diamond (LGD) prices plunged by three quarters, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing industry analyst Paul Zimnisky.

Read more

The Jewelry District, Episode 137: Guest Ian Smillie – by Kathy Passero (JCK Online – December 18, 2024)

JCK Online

JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates talk with human rights activist and author Ian Smillie, one of the architects of the Kimberley Process. Ian’s unlikely career began when he volunteered to teach high school in Sierra Leone more than 50 years ago and has led him to become a leading advocate for ending the “blood diamond” trade.

In this episode, Ian discusses his quest to improve life for artisanal miners, the threats they face from the rise of lab-grown stones, and his new memoir about a life dedicated to combatting global poverty. Victoria and Rob welcome Ian Smillie, a Canadian human rights activist who was instrumental in the campaign against blood diamonds.

Read more

Obituary: Diamond hunter Chris Jennings played a key role in finding Diavik deposit in Northwest Territories – by Matthew Hart (Globe and Mail – December 12, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

On Nov. 12, 1991, the Australian minerals giant BHP issued a spare, eight-sentence press release that dropped like a bomb on Canadian mining. At a tiny lake 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife, the company and its Canadian partners had discovered microdiamonds.

Canada would become a major diamond producer, but at the time the news stunned the mining community. Diamonds in the Arctic? A group of men and women who had spent their lives ransacking Canada for minerals gathered for a late-night meeting in Toronto as they tried to understand the news.

Read more

The Kimberley Process Has Failed at Its One Job. Let It Do Something Else. – by Rob Bates (JCK Online.com – December 5, 2024)

JCK Online

In mid-November, the Kimberley Process (KP) lifted its embargo against the Central African Republic (CAR); there’s a good backgrounder here. In this special guest editorial, Brad Brooks-Rubin — who has worked for the U.S. government, industry associations, and a nongovernmental organization (NGO) — gives his view on what this means for the certification scheme’s future.

Recently I walked into a jewelry store and asked about blood diamonds. The salesperson, leaning on their training, talked to me about the Kimberley Process certification scheme. Per the standard industry talking points, I was told that 99% of diamonds are conflict-free and that the KP helps support local development in diamond-mining countries.

Read more

The History Of The Argyle Pink Diamond Mines – by Prue Bell (Paul Bram.com – September 3, 2021)

https://paulbram.com.au/

Pink Diamonds are amongst the rarest precious items on earth. That is why they are the most collectible stones right now. To own a pink diamond is to own a piece of Australian and world history.

“Buying a Pink Diamond is like buying a Pablo Picasso while he was alive… In another decade, the Argyle Pink Diamond will emerge as the new Faberge egg, the thing myths are made of. The value of rarity is the most priceless factor” – THE AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS REVIEW.90% of the world’s pink diamonds have been discovered in the mines of North Western Australia in the Argyle diamond mines. “The Argyle pink diamond story has enthralled throughout the years following the remarkable discovery of the Argyle mine in 1979.

Read more

De Beers Capitulates on Diamond Strategy With Big Price Cuts – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – December 02, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — De Beers has cut diamond prices by more than 10% across the board as the world’s biggest producer abandons attempts to put a floor under the slumping market.

The diamond industry has been struck by one of its deepest and most prolonged slumps in decades. What started as a post-pandemic slowdown has spiraled as inflation hit customer purchases, before a collapse in China’s luxury market further eroded demand. Man-made diamonds have also continued to undermine prices.

Read more

Interview: Why diamonds may be a computer’s best friend – by David Szondy (New Atlas – November 30, 2024)

https://newatlas.com/

We recently sat down with Adam Khan of Diamond Quanta – the company that wants to replace the silicon chip with ones made from diamond. We discussed the reason for this glittering idea, the challenges it presents, and the implications of the technology.

The past half century has seen a fantastic evolution in electronics and computers thanks to the silicon chip. In line with Moore’s Law, the number of transistors on a single chip doubled roughly every two years with a commensurate rise in computer power and drop in prices. The result is our modern age of handheld supercomputers, increasingly common AI, the internet, and all the other things that make those of us who remember punch cards feel very old.

Read more

Botswana to Set Up G7 Verification Node for Diamonds – by Joshua Freedman (Papaport Magazine – November 27, 2024)

https://rapaport.com/

Botswana will establish a certification point for rough diamonds entering Group of Seven (G7) countries next year, authorities announced Wednesday, with discussions underway for additional nodes in Namibia and Angola.

The development follows widespread opposition to a plan for Antwerp to be a “single node” through which all rough destined for G7 markets would pass to ensure it is not subject to Russian sanctions.

Read more

Want a Diamond? You’ll Need to Decide on Lab-Grown or Natural. – by Stephanie Cain (New York Times – November 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Consumer misconceptions about diamonds can make the process of engagement ring shopping even more distressing.

With Thanksgiving marking the unofficial start of engagement season — late November through Valentine’s Day is when marriage proposals are common — ring buying is top of mind for many couples considering marriage.

The four Cs — carat, cut, color, and clarity — have traditionally been used to evaluate diamonds. Now, couples buying diamond engagement rings have another choice to make: natural diamonds, which are mined from the earth, or lab-grown diamonds, which are man-made but chemically identical.

Read more

EU Blasts KP Chair’s Comments, Plenary’s Lack of Progress – by Leah Meirovich (Rapaport Magazine – November 20, 2024)

https://rapaport.com/

The European Union (EU) has called out the behavior of Kimberley Process (KP) chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem at the most recent plenary, as well as the meeting’s failure to address a long-standing concern.

The union was disappointed that the plenary, which took place from November 11 to 15, failed to address the implications of the Russian war against Ukraine on the global rough-diamond sector for the third year, it said Monday. The omission has a detrimental impact on the credibility of the KP and on the reputation of natural diamonds, undermining consumer confidence, the EU explained.

Read more

Is the New Natural-Diamond Marketing Campaign ‘Worth the Wait’? – by Leah Meirovich (Rapaport Magazine – November 11, 2024)

Home

Natural diamonds have taken a big hit in the past few years. From the highs and lows of Covid-19 spending on luxury, to economic uncertainty and an oversupply in the midstream that has led to a persistently weak market, prices and demand have dropped. And that’s before you consider the effect of the younger demographic’s growing interest in lab-grown.

With significant obstacles to overcome, those in the trade have been looking for a solution to reengage Millennials, Gen Z and up-and-coming Gen Alpha consumers with the wonder, rarity and magic of a natural diamond. Enter De Beers and Signet Jewelers.

Read more

GDP drop in N.W.T. last year shows territory’s economy ‘stagnating,’ researcher says – by Nadeer Hashmi (CBC News North – November 14, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

N.W.T. was 1 of 2 jurisdictions in Canada to see its Gross Domestic Product drop between 2022 and 2023

New economic data from Statistics Canada show that the N.W.T.’s economy is “stagnating,” according to one Yellowknife economist.

And Graeme Clinton, owner of the research firm Impact Economics, says it’s not a big surprise, as the territory’s diamond mines are past their peak production and are preparing for closures. “There’s not a lot of activity coming in behind them, such that we can expect significant growth going forward,” Clinton said.

Read more

Botswana’s new president aims to clinch De Beers diamond sales pact soon – by Brian Benza, Felix Njini and Clara Denina (Reuters – November 1, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Botswana’s new president, Duma Boko, said on Friday he wanted to conclude talks for a new sales pact with global diamonds giant De Beers as soon as possible.

De Beers, a unit of mining company Anglo American, last year agreed a new diamond sales pact, which would see the government’s share of diamonds from the Debswana joint venture gradually increase to 50% over the next decade.

Read more

The transition to closure: The Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories is approaching closure in early 2026, but Rio Tinto aims to leave a positive legacy – by Ailbhe Goodbody (CIM Magazine – October 28, 2024)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories is set to close in approximately 18 months after almost a quarter of a century of operations. Over 144 million carats of rough diamonds have been recovered at Diavik through a combination of open-pit and underground mining since it entered commercial production in 2003, and the mine is a major contributor to the economy of the Northwest Territories, accounting for more than 10 per cent of the territory’s gross domestic product.

The current mine plan anticipates that operations will cease in the first quarter of 2026, followed by a transition to closure activities from 2026 to 2029. However, the mine was designed with closure in mind from the outset, and Rio Tinto hopes to leave a lasting beneficial impact in the region after its closure activities end in 2029, while limiting its carbon footprint at the same time.

Read more

Diamond-rich Botswana holds an election with new economic challenges for a long-ruling party – by Sello Motseta (Associated Press – October 28, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — Botswana votes in a national election this week that will decide if the ruling party extends a 58-year stretch in power in a southern African country that is a leading diamond producer and often held up as one of the most stable and least corrupt democracies on the continent.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, or BDP, is seeking a second and final term in office, although Wednesday’s election isn’t directly for president. Voters will decide the makeup of Parliament and lawmakers will later elect the president.

Read more