Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood – Page 47

Diamond production down, sales volume up – by Paul Zimnisky (Mining.com – August 9, 2016)

August 9, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

The global economy performed better than most expected in the first-half of 2016, as the world’s largest diamond jewelry market, the U.S., held back on further rate hikes, and policy in China, the world’s fastest growing diamond jewelry market, promoted credit creation.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank has leaned on the side of more-dovish policy so far in 2016 after raising the fed funds rate last December, for the first time in 9 years, which fueled the S&P 500 to a new all-time high in early June after marking a multiyear low in February.

China responded positively to government stimulated credit support which stabilized what had been a volatile 2015 for Chinese property and financial markets. China’s most economically advanced regions, driven by service sectors, such as Shanghai and Beijing metro areas, have showed the most improvement, but the less-developed, industrial-driven regions, primarily in the northern portions of the country,continued a lagging growth trend that first became apparent last year.

Diamond mining entrepreneur Robert Gannicott dies at 69 – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – August 5, 2016)

August 5, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Robert Gannicott is remembered as one of the pioneers and champions of Canada’s diamond industry, which he helped shape for more than two decades. The 69-year-old mining entrepreneur passed away on Wednesday after a battle with leukemia. He was diagnosed in 2014.

Gannicott will always be linked to one company: Dominion Diamond Corp. He got involved with the firm in 1992, shortly before it discovered the Diavik mine in the Northwest Territories, and was a driving force at Dominion right up to this year.

He led the company through tremendous growth and change during his time as chief executive. His key deals were the purchase (and later the sale) of the Harry Winston diamond retail business, and the acquisition of the Ekati mine near Diavik. Today, Dominion is a $1 billion company and is planning a big expansion at Ekati that Gannicott championed.

GEMS: Gold is not all that glitters – diamonds act as hedge for rich – by David Brough and Atul Prakash (Globe and Mail – July 26, 2016)

July 26, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

GENEVA and LONDON — Reuters – In a packed Christie’s auction room in Geneva, one could hear a pin drop as two anonymous bidders slugged it out in their quest to own the world’s most exquisite blue diamond.

The room in the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues was filled with multimillionaire collectors and diamond dealers, listening intently as the bidders, each speaking by phone to a Christie’s representative, took turns adding a few hundred thousand dollars in a tense struggle dragging on for more than half an hour.

When the auctioneer’s hammer came down, spontaneous applause broke out as the winner, who retained anonymity, bought the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue for a world record $57.5-million (U.S.) for any jewel sold at auction. The sale some weeks ago was the latest in a series of world record prices per carat paid at auction for extraordinarily magnificent and rare diamonds.

De Beers unlikely to find buyer for Snap Lake mine, says analyst – by Guy Quenneville (CBC News North – July 26, 2016)

July 26, 2016

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

Current diamond prices a deterrent to buyers

Groundwater problems, weakened diamond prices and a thinning crowd of diamond producers mean De Beers is “very unlikely” to find a buyer for the Snap Lake mine before the company floods it later this year, says one diamond industry analyst.

“I don’t see somebody buying it and turning it back on and producing at current prices,” says Paul Zimnisky. He says his data indicates diamond prices are only up about five per cent since De Beers halted production at the N.W.T. mine in December.

If a junior mining company does agree to purchase Snap Lake, it will likely do so under a “call out option” — acquiring and sitting on a mine for the express purpose of reselling it once prices improve.

Two Canadian diamond projects to see first production this quarter – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – July 18, 2016)

July 19, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada has two diamond projects that are expected to start first production during the current quarter, with De Beers Canada’s Gahcho Kué project, in the Northwest Territories, making commissioning progress and Stornoway Diamond Corp starting with ore processing at the Renard project, in Quebec.

TSX-listed Stornoway on Friday announced that it had started the processing ramp-up to 2.16-million tonnes, within nine months, at 78% plant utilisation, ahead of schedule.

The operation, Quebec’s only diamond mine, would achieve commercial production, maintaining ore processing, for 30 days, at 60% nameplate capacity.

Namibia’s Diamond Discoveries Seen Extending Mining by 50 Years – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Discoveries of diamonds on land bordering the southern Atlantic coastal areas of Namibia, the world’s largest producer of marine gems, may extend ground-based mining operations by another 50 years, Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said.

Namdeb Diamond Corp., jointly owned by the Namibian government and Anglo American Plc’s De Beers, struck more deposits after pushing back the sea wall at its land-based operations, Schlettwein said an interview Sunday in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where he was attending the African Union summit.

“An additional resource has been now made available,” he said. “And with that, the life of mine from the land-based operations has been extended by another 50 years.”

Namdeb, as the De Beers unit is known, uses the latest technology to scour the bottom of the Atlantic for gems.

Emerald city: How gemstone-rich Colombia is embracing ethical sourcing – by Nathalie Atkinson (Globe and Mail – July 15, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It may be churlish of me to highlight this during wedding season, but as scientist and jeweller Aja Raden points out in her cultural history Stoned, gemstones are “just colourful gravel.” She elaborates on the fraught history and desire around precious objects – pearls, emeralds, wristwatches – with diamonds as one cautionary tale via Marie Antoinette, whose downfall was precipitated by jewellery.

The human history of attraction to bright shiny objects has not exactly been about supply chain integrity or corporate social responsibility – instead, think envy, greed, violence, suffering, slavery, incursions and the guillotine.

To understand the role of gems and jewels in luxury today, it’s necessary to consider, as Raden does, the brilliant “A diamond is forever” campaign that De Beers whipped up in 1947 after the South African diamond rush that saw the company gain control of 99 per cent of the planet’s diamonds.

Peregrine Diamonds needs a $95M all-weather road – by Jane Sponagle (CBC News North – July 13, 2016)

July 14, 2016

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

‘The road in is a critical piece of infrastructure’

A diamond company working on Baffin Island says it could spend 10 years extracting roughly $2.5 billion in net revenue — but first it needs to build a $95 million all-weather road to Iqaluit.

Peregrine Diamonds president and chief executive officer Tom Peregoodoff held a conference call with stakeholders Tuesday to talk about the two kimberlite pipes that make up phase one of the Chidliak diamond project, 120 km northeast of Iqaluit. Peregrine has been exploring at Chidliak since 2005.

But to get the project up and running, the company needs to build a 160 km all-season road from Iqaluit to the site. “The road in is a critical piece of infrastructure and we need that prior to commencement of construction to minimize our construction capital costs,” said Peregoodoff.

Nunavut, Kitikmeot Inuit team up to build longest road in Nunavut – by Nick Murray (CBC News North – July 12, 2016)

July 13, 2016

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

Road would begin at Grays Bay and stretch south to the N.W.T.’s diamond mines

A project proposal to build the longest road in Nunavut — a 227 kilometre all-season road from the shores of the Northwest Passage — is moving closer to fruition. On Friday, the Government of Nunavut signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association to partner on the project.

The road would connect a proposed deep water port at Grays Bay — on the Northwest Passage between Bathurst Inlet and Kugluktuk — to the winter road that services the N.W.T.’s diamond mines. It’s one of Nunavut’s and the N.W.T’s richest area in minerals.

“The challenge has always been lack of road infrastructure to get the product out,” said Tom Hoefer, the executive director of the N.W.T. and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. “So this is nothing new in the sense of people wanting to get road access in that region.

Botswana: Mining Job Losses Fears Mount (All Africa.com – July 11, 2016)

July 12, 2016

http://allafrica.com/

The aftermath of depressed commodity prices and slow uptake of locally produced minerals that has resulted in reduced production at Debswana diamond mines and copper mines is being felt as fears of more mining job losses escalate. The dreaded job cuts axe is hovering over workers at one of Debswana suppliers Multotec Botswana, with fears that the company may release some workers if their contracts, which end this year, are not renewed.

The company currently employs approximately 275 workers in different operations at Debswana mines in Orapa, Letlhakane and Jwaneng. The trade union representing miners, Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) said last week that they are awaiting feedback from Multotec Botswana to be presented at a Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) meeting on 07-08 July 2016.

“We do not know of any job losses. As far as we are concerned the company is still negotiating renewal of their contracts with Debswana. Some (contracts) have already been extended,” said Mbiganyi Moffat Ramokate – the Union Secretary General a day after the union presented a petition to Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi pleading that Government intervene to save jobs in the mines, particularly at the country’s leading copper mine BCL which faces closure.

Hunting for Diamonds Under Canada’s Frozen Tundra – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – July 11, 2016)

July 12, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A quarter century of digging under ice sees winners, losers, and an Irish billionaire teaming up with De Beers.

On the semi-frozen surface of Faraday Lake in Canada’s subarctic, two diamond rigs are drilling around the clock. It’s spring breakup north of the 63rd parallel, which means the Kennady Diamonds Inc. exploration team is running out of time.

“It’s starting to candle,” says geologist Martina Bezzola, scuffing her rubber boot over the fast-melting ice where vertical tunnels, or “candles,” have recently appeared. The thaw means the team has two weeks to extract kimberlite samples from beneath the lake before they’re banished to drilling onshore. “Basically it’s like sticking a needle into a haystack to determine what’s in the haystack.”

Twenty-five years after the first diamonds were found in Canada’s Northwest Territories, it’s still a game of hurry-up-and-wait. For every thousand grassroots exploration projects, only one becomes a mine. Snap Lake, one of three operating mines in the region, was shuttered by De Beers last year, a casualty of harsh geography and falling diamond prices.

Russia Sells Stake in Diamond Miner Alrosa for $815 Million (The Moscow Times – July 11, 2016)

July 12, 2016

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/

The Russian government has sold a stake in Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond miner, for 52.2 billion rubles ($816 million), the RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday.

The sale was the first in a program of partial privatizations designed to help cover a large budget deficit. The government sold 10.9 percent of Alrosa at 65 rubles ($1.01) per share — a 3.7 percent discount to their market price. The government still controls one-third of the company’s shares.

Boris Kvasov, a director at VTB Capital, one of the Russian banks that managed the sale, told the RBC news agency about 35 percent of the shares were bought by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a state-backed investor. A similar amount was bought by Europeans, with Asian and Middle Eastern buyers purchasing a further 25 percent, he said.

Diamond giant calls Calgary home – by Andrea MacLean (CTV Calgary – July 7, 2016)

July 8, 2016

http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/

Amidst thousands of jobs losses and shrinking head offices in our city, some unusual news: a prestigious diamond company has decided to call Calgary its new home. De Beers is one of the largest diamond mining and processing companies in the world.

Like oil, the market for diamonds has dipped. So, in an effort to cut costs, the diamond giant decided to move their Canadian corporate headquarters from Toronto to Calgary. There were other cities in contention – including Vancouver – but De Beers Canada CEO, Kim Truter, says Calgary perfectly suited to their needs.

“Taking into account things like logistics, cost of living, attraction, retention – all of those criteria – Calgary came out the winner,” said Truter, “especially on the logistics aspect. As you know, Calgary is the logistics hub of Canada; so, it’s perfect for our needs.”

First, Find the World’s Biggest Diamonds. Then Don’t Break Them. – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg News – July 6, 2016)

July 6, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A black-and-yellow dump truck rumbles up from a giant pit in the mountains of southern Africa, carrying a load of freshly blasted slate-gray rock from the Letseng mine. With luck it will contain a golf-ball sized diamond worth perhaps $20 million. With even more luck the stone won’t get smashed.

Keeping giant gems intact during the mining process is a challenge for the two companies that account for most of the global production of these multi-million dollar whoppers. They’ve unearthed 15 of the 20 largest diamonds found in the past decade. Almost every one lost a chunk at some point in the process, including a stone called the Lesedi La Rona that is the largest found in more than a century.

“Since the time of the caveman mining hasn’t changed much. You pulverize the rock and take out what you want,” said Clifford Elphick, chief executive officer of Gem Diamonds Ltd., which runs Letseng. “That’s fine in the metals business, but in the diamond business it’s not an appealing technique.”

Lucara shares drop after its giant diamond fails to sell at auction – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – June 30, 2016)

June 30, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares of Lucara Diamond Corp. of Vancouver nosedived on Wednesday after the giant gemstone it discovered last year failed to sell at a London auction.

The top bid of $61-million (U.S.) fell short of Lucara’s minimum selling price for its historic discovery. Slightly smaller than a tennis ball, the 1,109-carat stone is the largest diamond unearthed in more than a century.

Lucara’s shares plunged as much as 17 per cent in the hours after the auction and finished the day down 14.5 per cent. The stock had doubled in price over the past year as Lucara produced a stream of supersized diamonds from its Karowe mine in Botswana.