De Beer’s chief executive officer (CEO) Gareth Penny, has announced his resignation, and will step down in the coming months, concluding his five years at head of the company. Having led the company during the recession and subsequent recovery, Penny stated it was the right time for him to step down. While the Board noted [...]
Gross rough diamond imports by the U.S. totaled $61.4 million in May, their highest level since October 2008. The rise in gross rough imports was a sharp one in May, rising 155.4 percent year-over-year and 51.8 percent compared to last April. Net trade figures show that rough diamond exports continues to exceed imports when measured [...]
The Russian State Treasury may sell between $500 million and $800 million of rough diamonds so that rough prices won’t go up due to both speculative demand and the shortage of rough. Russia bought $1 billion of rough in 2009 to support ALROSA, so now the government is planning its commercial strategy to sell by [...]
The WFDB and International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) urged participants to engage in more responsible trading practices and to specifically adopt a cautious attitude toward credit and the accumulation of inventory, during the 34th World Diamond Congress. Sergey Oulin, president of the Russian Diamond Chamber, said the industry is now better prepared to deal with [...]
The Kimberley Process reached an agreement that will enable the renewal of rough diamond exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. The consensus agreement included NGOs, governments and industry representatives, which in itself was a “breakthrough,” said Eli Izhakoff, president of the World Diamond Council (WDC). Even while this mini-session for Kimberley Process members [...]
Botswana, a leading diamond producing country, exported $255.1 million worth of diamonds in May, according to recent figures released by the Bank of Botswana. The country’s exports increased 9.2 percent compared to April when it exported $233.6 million worth of diamonds. In the first five months of 2010, Botswana’s diamond exports totaled$1.25 billion. Botswana exported [...]
A case of extortion of noted Indian jeweller Mahesh Notandas, led to three gangsters entering the Andheri (w) branch of the store and firing at its manager. The manager has endured serious injuries, reports say. Following a police complaint, the jeweller is given security cover, although he had previously refused the same last month despite [...]
An in-depth comparison by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), between their internal methods to determine the cut grade of a round diamond and Sarin’s new implementation of the Facetware database, shows highly compatible results between the two methods, according to Sarin Technologies Ltd. To evaluate compatibility, GIA measured more than 14,000 stones, randomly selected [...]
Global polished diamond prices rebounded to their highest level in 19 months during June. The IDEX Online Polished Diamond Price Index rose to 117.2 for June; it last stood at this level near the end of 2008. June’s IDEX Online Index indicates that diamond prices have recovered almost half of their precipitous decline that occurred [...]
Retail expansion plans are surfacing at Malabar Gold, a leading Indian jewellery retailer. The company is considering setting up altogether 22 stores within India and West Asia, within this year, reports say. Project investment is estimated at Rs. 250 crore. Reports further add that the company is chalking out a pricing strategy ‘One State, One [...]