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Members of government, the diamond and jewelry industry and human rights groups gathered in the Indian city of Mumbai, June 17-21, for the first of two Kimberley Process (KP) meetings that will be hosted in the country this year. India is the current chair of the KP, which is the multinational coalition established in 2000 to prevent the infiltration of conflict diamonds into the legitimate diamond pipeline.
In the latest edition of its worldwide survey of the luxury product markets, Bain & Company has reported that they grew by 5 percent in 2018, to reach an estimated value of $1.36 trillion globally.
A lawsuit decided in the United States has the potential, as a result of the publicity has garnered, of shaking up the market for diamonds for investment.
Traceability, or the ability to track a diamond from the mine all the way to the point at which it is sold at retail, set in jewelry, was a very hot topic at the 2019 JCK Show in Las Vegas in June, with both of the two world’s largest diamond companies discussing or demonstrating systems that they are developing to the do the job.
Quietly, without very little fanfare, the De Beers Group has shut down the International Institute for Diamond Valuation (IIDV), which was established 2014 as a polished diamond buy-back service that would give players on the secondary market a fair price for their goods. Simultaneously, the company’s website has been taken down, and its social media accounts have gone off-line.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely to spur the next great technological wave in the diamond industry, quite possibly raising the capability of automated systems to a level that once would have been unimaginable.
Where and how do diamonds originate in nature? The answer is relatively well known, and that is millions of years ago deep below the earth’s surface, where the temperatures and pressures are high enough that carbon matter would crystalize into the form we recognize as a diamond.
The apocryphal Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” rings particularly true during this unusual period in our collective history. It is an age where long-time conventional wisdom and sometimes common sense is seemingly brushed aside, with no apparent set of rules or conventions to take their place. And in a business which takes for granted that a diamond is forever, even that type of sensibility can appear tenuous.
The South African-diamond headquartered mining group Petra Diamonds has announced that it has sold a 425-carat diamond to consortium comprising to Belgian companies, the Stargems Group and Choron (Belgium) BVBA, for $15 million.
Let’s start by agreeing that the discussion about diamonds and the environment is a difficult one, as it is with most minerals. For, simply stated, they are all inherently unsustainable. Once removed from the earth they do not regenerate.
Karowe, a state-of-the-art diamond mine in Botswana owned by Canada-headquartered Lucara Diamonds with a proven knack of yielding oversize stones, has done it again. According to the company, a 1,758-carat diamond has recently been discovered at the mine, taking the title of the world’s second largest stone away from the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, which was discovered at the same site in 2015.
The World Diamond Council (WDC) has presented an upgraded version of its System of Warranties, which is the statement that most diamond companies attach to invoices and memos testifying that the merchandise being sold is not associated with diamonds from conflict areas. The new statement will verify that they have conducted a self-assessment, testifying to their commitment to essential human and labor rights, anti-money laundering legislation, and anti-corruption.
A 20.46-carat oval-shaped fancy blue diamond has been unveiled in the Botswana capital of Gaborone. Called the Okavango Blue, its owners have made the ambitious claim that the stone could rival and even surpass the famous Hope Diamond.
There are a range of variables that factor in the economics of the diamond business, some of which are likely to be the deciding factor whether a business is profitable or not. Elements like the quality of the diamond itself, the skill and proficiency of the cutters and polishers, market demand and the general state of the economy are all accepted as standard issues that will affect the profitability of the business. But there is one that many would not think about – the weather.
After 18 months of planning, cutting and polishing, Graff, the London-headquartered multinational jewelry company, has unveiled the 302.37-carat Graff Lesedi La Rona, which the firm has described the largest square emerald-cut diamond in the world, and the biggest high-color, high-clarity diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Graff has declined to reveal its asking price.
Despite rumors to the contrary, China is likely to remain a powerhouse for a long time to come. According to research conducted by Bain & Company, middle-class consumers will represent an estimated 65 percent of all Chinese households by 2027, producing an ongoing pool of first-time buyers of luxury goods.
It is a story worthy of The Pink Panther, the 1963 movie that introduced the world to the hapless Inspector Jacques Clouseau, who bungled his way through Europe’s jet-set society, on the trail of a sophisticated diamond burglar, played by David Niven. Except this really happened.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. government agency charged with protecting the interest of consumers and promoting competition, is evolving into one of the most influential players in the worldwide diamond trade, in part because of the size of American market, both also because of its readiness to the place itself at the center of the debate about how to describe man-made diamonds and the differentiate them from their natural counterparts.
The De Beers Group has announced the launch of a program by which those clients who are getting a regular allocation of rough diamonds from the company and other accredited buyers will be able to label the goods as “diamonds from DTC.”
Global sales of diamond jewelry grew by 4 percent in 2018, compared with 2017, totaling $85.9 billion, the state-controlled Russian diamond mining company Alrosa has reported in its global luxury and jewelry market research for 2018.
Brexit, the process by which the United Kingdom is set to withdraw from the European Union, is still up in the air, with the economic consequences on the British economy in general, and the country’s jewelry and diamond industry in particular, likely to be considerable, particularly if the so-called “hard Brexit” cannot be avoided.
There is no other major jewelry trade show as associated with the watch industry as Baselworld. Which is an event that also puts to bed the question whether men buy jewelry. The luxury watch market, catering predominantly to men, equaled about $46.4 billion in 2018, and it is forecast to climb $53.2 billion by 2023.
Rio Tinto has unveiled its 2019 Argyle diamond tender collection of fancy-colored stones. It is likely to be one of the last in the series, because next year the mine is scheduled to end operations.
Located in south-central Botswana, about 120 kilometers west of the capital city of Gaborone, Jwaneng is the world’s richest diamond resource.
The introduction of synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds into the market mix has raised a variety of challenges for the traditional gem and jewelry industry.