Kimberley Process chairman wants UN involvement in supervising global diamond trade

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has rejected the monitor nominated by civil society to oversee operations at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, saying the appointment is null and void. The proposed watchdog is part of ongoing efforts to legitimise Zimbabwe's diamond trade, which was suspended in 2009 over human rights concerns at the Chiadzwa diamond fields. These concerns are still high with ongoing reports of rights abuses and rampant smuggling, all at the hands of the military, which maintains tight controls of the entire area.

Canada's Lucara Diamond Corp, building the AK6 mine in Botswana, said on Friday strike action in South Africa’s steel sector was delaying deliveries to the project, though it did not yet know the full impact on the mine's schedule. AK6 was on track so far, being 60% complete. The company’s other projects include Mothae Diamond Project, located in Lesotho, and Kavango Project, located in northeast Namibia.

A diamond trader of Surat died, while three others sustained serious injuries in the bomb blast that took place at Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, on Wednesday evening. Part of a group of traders that went to Mumbai for business, they were caught up in the bomb. Image from YouTube.

"Many of the Opera House diamond merchants' clients are from Israel...they are no strangers to terror and blasts," said Vasant Mehta, a leading merchant who was at home recovering from fever when the blast tore through Mumbai's congested diamond district.

Neighbour South Africa's influential Business Day reports as Zimbabwe’s shaky unity government inches ahead with extensive electoral reforms ahead of fresh elections now expected next year, the prospect of the country’s army seizing power looms large. In recent weeks, the military’s top brass has taken on a visible role in the country’s political affairs and has been brazenly opposed to security sector reforms. The military seized control of Zimbabwe's rich diamond fields in Chiadzwa in 2006 and most observers believe an international ban on these gems are being widely flouted.

Diamond miner and retailer Harry Winston posted a 4 percent rise in ore processed in the second quarter, helped by the recovery of higher grades, and the company will hold three rough diamond sales by the end of July.

Network Alliance, a specialist IT and network solutions provider for small and medium enterprises, has announced the successful completion of the South African phase of its first major Riverbed project.

Diamonds have the potential to act as building blocks for quantum computing. In an article published in Nature Physics last month, a group of researchers found that the nitrogen vacancy centre in a diamond can be used for quantum memory. The paper was published by the Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, California; and the Department of Physics, University of Konstanz. Researchers named were G. D. Fuchs, P. V. Klimov, and D. D. Awschalom.

Polar bears were the theme of the diamond jewelry items presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Canada's Northwest Territories. The newlyweds received a set of diamond pave cufflinks modeled after the polar bear logo of the NWT Government, and a diamond pave brooch also in the shape of the North's iconic bear.