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Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

Diamonds forever: Will Israel stay away from Congo? – by Daniel Brett (Al Arabiya.net – January 11, 2017)

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/

Building an empire in Congo

“Nothing happens in Congo without Dan Gertler and Gertler can do nothing without playing the Israeli card,” said an advisor to an international mining conglomerate. But the net is tightening around the Israeli billionaire mining magnate who dominates the economic life of the resource rich but economically impoverished Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Israeli mining magnate has been fundamental in the Kabila family’s control of the DRC over the past two decades. But the 42-year-old billionaire, who was the inspiration of for the movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is now under international scrutiny over corruption.

Meanwhile, his main Congolese ally, President Joseph Kabila, is clinging on by his fingertips to power. The fragile situation in the Central African rentier state threatens to drag the Israeli security establishment into a renewed conflict to defend the billionaire’s interests.

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Insider Q&A: De Beers CEO Talks Diamonds, Millennials – by Joseph Pisani (ABC News.com – January 8, 2017)

http://abcnews.go.com/

nstead of romantic proposals and engagement rings, the commercials trying to sell a new generation on diamonds show young couples rolling around on a bed, arguing in a car and even questioning whether they’ll ever marry.

The ads are one way the diamond industry is trying to reach millennials, the under-35-year-olds who may be more focused on paying off student loan debt than buying diamonds and getting hitched.

De Beers, the company that helped pay for the new commercials, says millennials are still purchasing diamonds, even though they are typically less affluent than their parents were at the same age. “They are buying smaller pieces,” says De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver.

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Nunavut diamond mine clean-up to proceed this year as planned Nunatsiaq News – January 3, 2017)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

INAC says no thanks to bid from junior miner to take over abandoned Jericho mine

The clean up of the old Jericho diamond mine will go ahead without a formal review this year despite a last ditch effort by a B.C.-based company to take over the assets and possibly restart the mine.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board issued a screening report Dec. 22 saying the federal government’s planned remediation and “stabilization” of the abandoned mine, about 260 km southeast of Kugluktuk, can move forward as planned this spring and summer so long as it follows 63 specific terms and conditions.

Those conditions address everything from the creation of the winter road to water use, waste disposal, fuel storage, wildlife disturbances and aircraft restrictions.

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De Beers abandons diamond search in northern Saskatchewan – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – December 26, 2016)

http://thestarphoenix.com/

The world’s largest diamond mining company says it is walking away from its search for the precious stones on a 43,000-acre property in northern Saskatchewan after several “targets” turned out to be magnetic minerals mixed with organic materials.

De Beers Canada Inc. started looking for kimberlite — a volcanic rock famous for containing diamonds — north of the decommissioned Cluff Lake uranium mine in June after optioning the property from Vancouver-based CanAlaska Uranium Ltd.

On Dec. 23, the companies said in a news release that De Beers was returning 100 per cent of the project to CanAlaska after drilling seven targets and concluding that all 85 targets on the property were related to the same magnetic minerals.

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[South Africa] Mining at 150 should be celebrated, not threatened yet again – by John Kane-Berman (Politicsweb.com – January 3, 2017)

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/

The year 2017 will be the 150th anniversary of the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. Actually, that may not be strictly accurate, as diamonds might have been discovered earlier although not put to commercial use. But the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange in 1867 sparked off mining all over the country.

It also sparked off many other things, including the first stock exchange in Africa in nearby Kimberley in 1881, where Cecil Rhodes consolidated thousands of small diggings. Another direct by-product of mining was two universities, those of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria, which originated in a school of mines in Kimberley.

Diamond mining begat gold mining, which begat coal mining, as the mines needed colossal amounts of energy. Railways had to be built, and the mines played a huge part in financing them. Mining, in short, turned South Africa from an agricultural into an industrial economy, whence it matured into one dominated by the service industries spawned by the needs of the mining and industrial sectors.

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Flawed diamond regulations fuelling child labour in Congo mines – campaigners – by Kieran Guilbert (Reuters U.K. – December 21, 2016)

http://uk.reuters.com/

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The failure of European jewellery firms to scrutinise their supply chains and a flawed diamond certification scheme are fuelling child labour and sexual abuse in artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a campaign group said on Thursday.

Thousands of children work illegally in diamond mines in Congo’s diamond-rich Kasai region – mainly to pay for food and school fees – and girls who live around the mines are prey to rape, forced marriage and prostitution, according to Swedwatch.

Yet few jewellery firms have policies to assess the risk of child labour and abuses in their diamond supply chains, and many do not provide public information about efforts to operate responsibly, Swedwatch said in a report.

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[Grenville Thomas] ‘Wind farms are a load of hot air!’ says Swansea-born ​multi-millionaire mining magnate (South Wales Evening Post – December 18, 2016)

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/

MULTI-MILLIONAIRE mining magnate and Swansea boy made good Grenville Thomas has voiced his opposition to a wind farm that threatens to overshadow his childhood home.

Although now living in the Canadian city of Vancouver, having made his fortune harvesting the natural resources of the vast country, the 74-year-old has never forgotten his roots and is even said to have built an exact replica of the Red Lion in Morriston, which his great-grandmother used to run.

Mr Thomas, who started his working life as a coal miner in his home city, has sent a message of support to campaigners who tried to block a new wind farm being built to the north of Swansea on Mynydd y Gwair.

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Why De Beers is Flooding a Subarctic Diamond Mine After 8 Years – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – December 16, 2016)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Anglo American Plc’s De Beers will flood a massive diamond mine located beneath a subarctic lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories after failing to find a buyer.

De Beers will begin inundating tunnels at its Snap Lake mine in early January, it said in a statement distributed late Thursday. In April, it put the site on care and maintenance, saying it would decide whether the mine could be made viable in the next year. The company hired Bank of Montreal as an adviser to sell it, but no agreement could be reached.

The rich diamond deposit beneath Snap Lake is in a remote area 220 kilometers (137 miles) northeast of Yellowknife. Since it opened in 2008, it has never turned a profit, plagued by engineering challenges related to keeping the site dry. It was originally expected to operate until 2028.

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Ghost Town Chronicles Meltdown of Botswana’s Metals Industry – by Mbongeni Mguni and Michael Cohen (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2016)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The streets of Selebi Phikwe in northeastern Botswana no longer teem with trucks, and once-busy shop assistants and bank tellers wait for the rare customer.

Since state-owned mining company BCL Ltd. closed its loss-making copper and nickel operation that was the economic lifeblood of the area two months ago, the settlement of 50,000 has become a virtual ghost town.

The government says it can’t afford the 8 billion pula ($752 million) needed to recapitalize the mine. Instead, it’s asked former central bank Governor Linah Mohohlo to oversee a plan to rescue the region. “There is despair, anguish and sorrow,” said Dithapelo Keorapetse, one of the town’s two members of Parliament. “The future for many is uncertain. For some there is no future.”

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Following the blood diamond trail from CAR to Cameroon – by Warren Dick (Mineweb.com – December 5, 2016)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Conflict diamonds from the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to enter world diamond markets via Cameroon in direct contravention of the Kimberley Process and international law. This is according to a report released by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) last Friday (December 2).

The proceeds of the diamond sales are probably arming the Seleka rebels which are the same group that overthrew the government in 2013 and in the process killed fifteen members of the South African National Defence Force.

Conflict diamonds are defined as “rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments”. CAR is the only source of traditionally defined conflict diamonds in the world today.

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NEWS RELEASE: STATEMENTS FROM ATTAWAPISKAT FIRST NATION, NAN ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAWSUIT

GATINEAU, QC (December 7, 2016): Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Ignace Gull and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler have issued the following statements following legal action by an environmental group over monitoring at the De Beers diamond mine near the remote First Nation community.

“The issues facing our community with respect to our relationship with De Beers, the operation of the Victor Diamond Mine and its impacts in our territory are complex and challenging. I was surprised to learn that this legal action has been taken, and I am concerned that issues of great importance to our community are being addressed in the courts and media without our knowledge, consent or participation.

I must clarify that the Wildlands League, their lawyers and spokespeople, do not speak or act on behalf of Attawapiskat First Nation. The protection and stewardship of our traditional territory is our sacred responsibility.

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Rio CEO Wants to Expand in Diamond Mines Rather Than Divest – by Jesse Riseborough and Jonathan Ferro (Bloomberg News – December 6, 2016)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

When Rio Tinto Group chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques took the reins of the world’s second-biggest mining company in July, there was speculation he’d sell a host of less desirable mines and smelters.

The firm’s diamond business, underpinned by two underground mines, was considered by some analysts as a candidate to be divested or spun out, particularly after it was combined with the copper unit. In a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Jacques earmarked the division as a focus for expansion rather than disposal.

“What we want is to improve the quality of our portfolio,” said the Frenchman, who’s known as JS. “I would love to have more diamonds to be very explicit. That’s a priority area.”

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De Beers invests $5m to expand Surat diamond grading unit (Times of India – December 6, 2016)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

SURAT: De Beers, a member of the Anglo American group, today said it has invested US $5 million in expansion of its diamond grading and testing centre at Surat in Gujarat.

The move follows the Group’s initial investment of US $10 million in 2015, to establish the facility, which has the capacity to process over US $500 million of diamonds annually.

The facility represents a world-leading resource for India’s diamond cutting and polishing sector, providing polished diamond grading services, diamond verification services and melee (small diamond) testing and screening, International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research (IIDGR) President Jonathan Kendall told reporters here.

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Environment group takes De Beers Canada to court over mercury – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters Canada Reuters – December 6, 2016)

http://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – An environmental group said on Tuesday it filed a lawsuit against De Beers Canada, accusing the diamond producer of failing to report toxic levels of mercury and methylmercury at its Victor diamond mine in northern Ontario.

The Wildlands League alleged that De Beers Canada failed to report mercury levels from five of nine surface water monitoring stations for the creeks next to its open pit mine between 2009 and 2016.

This was an offense under the Ontario Water Resources Act, the group said in a statement. It said it had alerted the province of Ontario and De Beers Canada to the failures more than 18 months ago.

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Environmentalists allege De Beers failed to report on mercury in water – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – December 6, 2016)

https://www.thestar.com/

A Canadian environmental group is taking DeBeers Canada to court, claiming the company failed to report toxic levels of mercury and methylmercury in the waters surrounding a northern Ontario diamond mine.

The Wildlands League, a chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, represented by Ecojustice lawyers, says De Beers has failed to consistently report the levels of methylmercury in the creeks surrounding the Victor Diamond Mine, located 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat First Nation.

De Beers Group denies the allegations, saying, “To suggest that we have not been reporting per our legal requirements for seven years is grossly misleading. That is simply not true.”

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