The world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa (MCX:ALRS) said on Wednesday it planned to start trial mining at a new section of its Luaxe deposit in Angola by mid-2020. The Russian miner and its partner Catoca Mining — the country’s state-owned diamond company — found Luaxe’s Luele pipe in 2013. They have since been analyzing the deposit’s potential, which they believe may turn out to be the largest diamond discovery in the last 60 years. Luaxe is located 25 km from the giant Catoca operation — Angola’s largest diamond mine —
Petra Diamonds Ltd has restarted its mining operations in South Africa, but is restricting power usage in line with requirements by state utility Eskom, the company said on Tuesday. Mines across South Africa have shut down after flash flooding triggered the most severe power blackouts in more than a decade, threatening a key export sector in a further blow to the country’s already slowing economy. Petra, which said on Monday it was halting operations at its Cullinan, Finsch and Koffiefontein mines, said it had resumed operations after Eskom scaled back its programme of rolling power cuts.
Struggling Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) has had to suspend operations at all of its mines in South Africa after Eskom, the country’s electricity utility, declared a power system emergency and asked the miner to reduce its electricity load. For six consecutive days, Eskom has been forced to implement rotational load shedding — a South African term for planned power cuts — as a mean of averting a nationwide blackout. Today, however, is the first time it moves to Stage 6 load shedding, scheduled from 6pm local time onwards. Interruption of electricity supply had,
Just before the end of the year, the world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa (MCX: ALRS), unearthed a large 191-carat rough diamond at its Botuobinskaya kimberlite pipe in Yakutia, eastern Russia. Even though Alrosa experts are still conducting mineralogical analyses on the stone, preliminary results suggest that the diamond is about 2 billion years old. “This is a true sign to find such a large and high-quality diamond just around the end of the year,” Evgeny Agureev, the company’s deputy CEO, said in a media statement. “Nature has already endowed us in 2019. For example, a heart-shaped diamond was mined at the Udachnaya pipe just before Valentine’s Day.” Discovered in 1994, the Botoubinskaya pipe, together with the Nyurbinskaya pipe, is operated by Alrosa’s Nyurba Mining and Processing Division. The unit, however, was established back in 2000 and mining at the deposit began in 2015.
Canada’s Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC) is the latest miner to inject some optimism into a depressed market that was hit this year by an unforeseen oversupply and increasing demand for lab-made gems by announcing better than expected sales in December. The Vancouver-based company, which operates the prolific Karowe mine in Botswana, fetched $52.9 million in the final tender held last week. The figure represents an average price of $548 per carat — about 40% higher than the company’s average price achieved in the previous quarter. The proceeds also exceeded expec
The Carnegie Institution of Washington, which has been doing scientific research for more than a century, filed lawsuits in New York alleging its patents for growing diamonds in a lab are being infringed by some top makers of such gem stones. The institute filed three complaints Thursday in Manhattan federal court against six companies, including Pure Grown Diamonds Inc. and IIa Technologies PTE Ltd. Carnegie and M7D Corp., which licenses the technology, said in the lawsuits that they are seeking cash compensation and court orders blocking unauthorized use of two pate
The Perth Mint issued a Jewelled Tiger coin crafted from 10oz of 99.99% pure gold and adorned with a sculptured three-dimensional 18 carat rose gold tiger pavé set with nearly three carats of fancy vivid intense pink diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine. In a press release, the mint said that the coin also includes two vibrant green Columbian Muso Emeralds, which represent the eyes. “Surmounting the coin, the tiger is presented with a fierce expression to display its dominance as it ascends a stylised rocky outcrop of mountain ranges with oriental fo
Rio Tinto’s (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) iconic Argyle mine in remote Western Australia, the world’s biggest and the main global source of high-quality pink diamonds, will close in the fourth quarter this year, potentially pushing prices up and spurring exploration. The planned closure, the company said, will impact its total diamond output for the year. Rio now expects to produce between 12 and 14 million carats of rough diamonds in 2020, down from the 17 million carats it churned out last year. The impact on Rio’s balance sheet, however, will be minimal
De Beers is considering key changes to the way it sells diamonds as frustration mounts among its customers—a supposedly elite group that are now struggling to turn a profit. De Beers has signaled to its handpicked buyers that it may significantly reduce their number, possibly by the most since its monopoly ended at the beginning of the century, according to people familiar with the discussions. It’s also reconsidering the way that diamonds are allocated among the group, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversations were private. Th
Anglo American’s De Beers could soon expand a pilot program launched two years ago that aims to remove conflict diamonds from the market by tracing the route of precious stones dug up by small miners in Sierra Leone. In its first formal progress report on its “GemFair Way,” the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value says there are now 92 sites participating in the initiative, up from the 16 sites at launch in April 2018. Feriel Zerouki, industry relations and ethical initiatives at De Beers Group, as well as GemFair’s general manager,