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Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

On the gemstone trail: A tour of Antwerp’s diamond district – by John Malathronas (CNN – June 12, 2018)

https://www.cnn.com/

(CNN) — With its flat-fronted 1960s buildings and plain color scheme, Hoveniersstraat might be dismissed as one of the most drab streets in the pretty baroque Belgian city of Antwerp.

In fact, it’s one of the most fascinating, and there are several high security clues that give the game away. The street is protected by a police station, dozens of CCTV cameras and several armed soldiers. The reason: Hoveniersstraat is the center of Antwerp’s — and the world’s — diamond industry.

About 84% of all rough diamonds and 50% of all cut diamonds on the planet are traded in this destination today. Located less than an hour from Brussels by train, the Belgian city, has been a major diamond center since medieval times.

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Russian diamond miner announces auctions and award of high Sustainability ranking – by Rebecca Campbell (MiningWeekly.com – June 7, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Russian diamond mining major Alrosa announced on Thursday that it would hold auctions in Hong Kong and Vladivostok for large rough diamonds. The Hong Kong auction will start on June 13 and will run until June 27. The Vladivostok auction would start on June 18 and conclude on June 29. In both cases, the rough stones being auctioned will each weigh more than 10.8 ct.

Both auctions are of gem quality stones. In Hong Kong, the corporation would auction 105 lots with a total weight of 1 620 ct. In Vladivostok, it would auction 130 lots, with a total weight of 2 149 ct.

The diamonds would come from Alrosa itself and two of its subsidiaries: Alrosa-Nyurba and Severalmaz. The group had invited 150 companies, from Belgium, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the US to attend the auctions.

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De Beers to Sell Diamonds Made in a Lab – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 29, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — De Beers, which almost single-handedly created the allure of diamonds as rare, expensive and the symbol of eternal love, now wants to sell you some party jewelry that is anything but.

The company announced today that it will start selling man-made diamond jewelry at a fraction of the price of mined gems, marking a historic shift for the world’s biggest diamond miner, which vowed for years that it wouldn’t sell stones created in laboratories.

The strategy is designed to undercut rival lab-diamond makers, who having been trying to make inroads into the $80 billion gem industry. Synthetically produced diamonds at a De Beers lab.

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Victor closure may not be the last seen of De Beers – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – May 24, 2018)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – De Beers Canada has been actively searching for an opportunity to prolong its stay in Attawapiskat, beyond the lifespan of the Victor diamond mine. The Victor mine is set to end production in February 2019.

However, Tom Ormsby, head of external and corporate affairs for De Beers Canada, says there are still diamond-containing kimberlite deposits they would be interested in mining, if they can find a way to do it economically.

“Physically these pipes and their revenue models are not the same type as the current Victor pit,” Ormsby explained. “The Victor pit was larger, higher price per carat, more diamonds that are going to be in that price range that we know we can generate revenue from.

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How the wealth from Sierra Leone’s diamonds fails to enrich local communities – by Roy Maconachie (The Conversation – May 23, 2018)

https://theconversation.com/

Ever since diamonds were discovered in Sierra Leone in the 1930s, they have had a significant impact on the country – socially, politically and economically. This is partly to do with how they are extracted from the ground.

In countries in southern Africa, diamond mining is mostly undertaken by large-scale, mechanised companies, which monitor and control deep reserves. But in Sierra Leone, diamonds are more commonly dispersed close to the surface of river beds. They can be found by anyone with a shovel and a sieve.

This accessibility has made Sierra Leone’s diamond-rich Kono district a magnet for migrant workers – mostly young, single, uneducated, unemployed men seeking their fortunes. World Bank estimates suggest the artisanal diamond mining sector is now Sierra Leone’s second largest employer (after agriculture), providing a livelihood for between 300,000 and 400,000 people.

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Stornoway shares recede on curbed production, sales forecasts – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – May 17, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian diamond miner Stornoway Diamond Corp. has cut its production and sales guidance for the year, putting pressure on its balance sheet at a critical time as it shifts operations at its Renard mine from open pit to below ground.

The shares fell 5 per cent to $0.54 in Toronto trading on Wednesday afternoon. Longueuil, Que.-based Stornoway said in a release it now expects to produce between 1.35 million and 1.4 million carats of diamonds this year, down from an initial forecast of 1.6 million carats.

The company also revised its expectation for carats sold, to between 1.2 million carats and 1.25 million carats from 1.6 million previously.

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Billionaire Beny Steinmetz Is Digging for Diamonds Again – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 14, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Billionaire Beny Steinmetz is back to mining diamonds. The Koidu mine in Sierra Leone, controlled by the billionaire’s family trust, has started mining again after halting production for almost a year.

It’s the latest step in a recovery for a business that’s spent much of the last few years in deep trouble.

While the mine produces some of most valuable stones in the world, it has faced a series of crises running from too much debt to the Ebola epidemic. In 2015, the mine became part of a fight between Steinmetz’s BSG Resources Ltd. and the government that involved BSGR’s CEO betraying its owners in secretly taped conversations.

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Millennial attitudes are forcing a massive change in the diamond industry – by Mary Hanbury (Business Insider – May 10, 2018)

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Millennials are coming around to a big loophole in engagement ring shopping. The idea of spending thousands of dollars on a diamond is becoming less appealing as lab-grown alternatives of the stone are gaining traction. These lab-grown versions can look very similar to mined diamonds and can cost around 30-40% less.

This diamond-making process dates back to 1954 but has grown in popularity in the last decade. It’s still small-scale, however, as manufacturers of these diamonds, such as Pure Grown Diamonds and MiaDonna, make up a very small part of the overall market share — around 1% of the $80 billion global business for rough diamonds.

But this could be changing. According to a Morgan Stanley report cited by Forbes, lab-grown diamonds could take 7.5% of the total market share by 2020.

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You Don’t Have to Dig a Mine to Run One, Female Leaders Say – by Danielle Bochove and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – May 3, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Eira Thomas has discovered diamonds in the far north, co-founded mining companies and sat on a dozen boards — including Canada’s most valuable energy company.

So the 49-year-old was a little taken aback when an investor recently suggested she needed to hire an engineer as chief operating officer to back her up in the executive suite. She was, after all, only a geologist.

“I’m 30 years in this business,” said Thomas, who took over as chief executive officer of Vancouver-based Lucara Diamond Corp. in February. “I’ve been involved in multiple projects that have gone on to become mines. I sit on the board of Suncor. And I just wonder if a male, newly appointed CEO with the same credentials, would have faced the same commentary?’’

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Northwest Territories economic future ‘grim,’ says report – by Emily Blake (CBC News North – May 1, 2018)

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

Mining output expected to drop and unemployment to rise by 2040

The economic future for the Northwest Territories is “grim,” according to the Conference Board of Canada’s newest forecast for all three territories.

According to the independent research group’s report, peak diamond production came last year for the N.W.T and will begin to fall in the coming years. All three operating diamond mines in the territory — Ekati, Diavik and Gahcho Kué — will close by 2034.

“When Ekati closes in 2034, it will be the end of 43 years of diamond mining in the Northwest Territories unless a new mining diamond project sees the light of day,” the report stated.

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Zimbabwe: Questions As Chinese Resurface On Anjin’s Marange Diamond Claims – by Mukasiri Sibanda (All Africa – April 23, 2018)

http://allafrica.com/

On 20 April 2018, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) accompanied ambassadors from European Union countries during their field visit to the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) mining operations in Marange in the east of the country. One interesting observation was the fresh fence erected on Anjin’s concession, an air strip clearance and the presence of some Chinese on the ground.

The personnel are clearly not ZCDC staff and indications were that they were not maintenance staff either. This raises several questions: is Anjin back? If so, in what disguise? Did they get a new license?

Anjin is a diamond mining partnership between Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company Ltd of China (AFECC) and Matt Bronze, an investment vehicle controlled by Zimbabwe’s military.

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Flanders to Holland and back: Resource Clips visits the diamond industry in Belgium and the Netherlands – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – March 13, 2018)

http://resourceclips.com/

As if providing an outer defence, a solid line of retail jewellers blocks two broad avenues from Antwerp’s famed diamond district. Access comes mainly through a side street with a police-controlled traffic barrier. More cops and soldiers (the latter attesting to Belgium’s ongoing terror alert) patrol the narrow streets inside.

The only vehicles seem to be armoured vans customized for the diamond trade or the occasional bicycle carrying an Orthodox Jew with long coat and side curls flowing in the wind but magnificent hat solidly perched.

Except for the Portuguese synagogue, the buildings look un-Antwerpishly drab, catering to four bourses, several major companies and many more smaller operations that buy and sell stones and/or cut and polish them, as well as businesses selling tools of the trade or offering services like laser inscription removal.

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Zimbabwe’s parliament orders Mugabe to answer questions over diamonds – by by MacDonald Dzirutwe (Reuters U.S. – April 20, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s parliament has ordered former leader Robert Mugabe to answer questions next month about whether the state was deprived of $15 billion in diamond revenue, a legislator said on Friday.

It will be Mugabe’s first public appearance since last November when the army deposed him in a de facto coup after nearly four decades in power and he was replaced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The 94-year-old gave his first television interview last month since he lost power and said Mnangagwa had betrayed him and assumed the presidency illegally.

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Alrosa plans rough diamond trading in India, seeks reduction in 40% tax – by Dilip Kumar Jha (Business Standard – April 19, 2018)

http://www.business-standard.com/

Alrosa sells around 16 per cent of its annual rough diamond output directly to India through its 15 long-term and 140 spot and auctions clients

Russian diamond-mining major Alrosa will start rough diamond trading in India once the government brings the tax on it down to 0.56 per cent from 40 per cent now — to match the rates in other major trading hubs of the world.

The 40 per cent rate is applicable in special notified zones (SNZ), including the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), where Alrosa opened its first office in India on Thursday.

Alrosa is planning to service its Indian customers by contacting them daily. Apart from that, the India representative will help in market research and data analytics in various markets by giving information on trends in the demand for precious stones here.

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De Beers Has a Clean-Up Plan for Blood Diamonds – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – April 19, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Diamond mining giant De Beers plans to fix one of the industry’s oldest problems: the reputational stain of artisanal mining.

The world’s top diamond miner is set to start a pilot program in Sierra Leone that will help trace the route from mine to consumer for what it calls ethically-sourced artisanal gems.

The Anglo American Plc unit will train miners and provide them with equipment to digitally track their finds, and aims to buy the first such stones from them this year.

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