Pink Star diamond breaks world record at $71.2 million

Namdeb, which plans to produce 600,000 carats in 2012, expects the new mine to produce 45,000 carats a year.

"An unruly market may undo the work of a giant cartel and of an inspired, decades-long ad campaign."

"They need to clearly indicate to the market what their strategy around Olympic Dam is, around shale gas, all of these things, to return confidence that they're not spending huge amounts of capex for very low returns."

India's polished diamond trade saw a sharp decline in February following the imposition of a2% import duty by the Indian government on polished diamond imports on January 17, 2012.

London-based diversified miner Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) is taking a page out of BHP Billiton's playbook and is looking at selling some or all of its diamond mines.

Switzerland-based Shawish Jewelry is creating a diamond ring that would make Elizabeth Taylor’s 30-carat engagement band from Richard Burton look like a children’s toy— a 150-carat all-diamond ring.

London-listed diamond junior Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) forecasts a cheerful future for the diamond market, despite it sliding into the red in the six months to the end of December with a pre-tax loss of over US$327,000.

A rise in rough diamond imports by India took place in February. India imported $1.33 billion worth of rough diamonds, increasing 21.3 percent, based on provisional figures published by the Gem &Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

A sharp decline in India’s polished diamond trade in February after an import tax started to be collected. India exported $1.44 billion worth of polished diamonds in February, a 53.7 percent drop compared to February 2011.