Star Diamond acquires Buffalo Hills project in Alberta
Located approximately 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, the Buffalo Hills project includes 21 mineral leases covering 4,800 hectares.
Emerald producers are looking for a Halle Berry, Charlize Theron or Jennifer Aniston type that can help push more stones, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The industry doesn’t appear to the need the help. Bloomberg says high-quality emerald prices are up 10-fold in the last three years.
But the CEO of Gemfields Plc (LSE:GEM), Ian Harebottle, sees more money to be made in launching a bigger marketing push:
Gemfields, which says it currently pays for about 70 percent of global emerald advertising, has less concern about taking the brunt. “If I spend $1 and it makes me $2 I’m going to do it. The fact that people free carry, I don’t mind, so long as it benefits us,” said Harebottle. His company plans to boost its marketing budget to as much as $4 million next year from about $1.5 million this year and $150,000 in 2009.
