World’s largest, newest diamond mine to inject $5.2bn into Canada’s economy

Winnipeg Free Press reports: Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (TSX:HW) expects sales of its luxury jewelry and timepieces to reach $1 billion per year in the next decade as the number of wealthy individuals continues to climb. "There is an enormous concentration of wealth around the world," Frederic De Narp, head of Harry Winston's retail segment, said at the company's annual general meeting Thursday.

Bloomberg reports: De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer, is considering an expansion of its South African Voorspoed mine to extend the life of the operation by as much as eight years as prices for the gems climb. De Beers will complete a study this year on a proposed expansion that would prolong the mine’s life to “2026 or 2028,” rather than 2020 as currently planned, Mine Manager Mpumi Zikalala said today in an interview at the site near Kroonstad. It’s too early to estimate the cost of the project, which may include an underground section, she said.

De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer told a Washington audience Thursday that Africa has a bright future if its leaders embrace globalization and allow the private sector to flourish.

Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (TSX: HW) (NYSE:HWD) (the "Company") today announced its first quarter Fiscal 2012 results for the quarter ending April 30, 2011. Robert Gannicott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, "This quarter's results reflect improving rough diamond prices combined with increasing sales and profit for the luxury brand segment.

The board of Botswana Diamonds (AIM: BOD) is pleased to announce that its geologists have identified sequences of sedimentary rock layers in several localities in the east of its Cameroon diamond licence. These layers include a distinct conglomerate horizon, which is geologically correlated with the paleo-conglomerate that C&K Mining has identified as being diamondiferous.

The top 40 global mining companies are poised to break through the US$1 trillion asset mark this year, due to record levels of cash, property and equipment on balance sheets, says a new PwC report. In their report Mine 2011: The game has changed, PwC called the financial results of the top 40 "spectacular" as total revenues increased 32% to US$435 billion, breaking the $400 billion mark for the first time.

The Rapaport Group, global manager of diamond data and international group of companies, has given a thumbs up to India, the world's largest importer of diamond roughs. With the country's polished diamond exports rising 6% year-on-year to $2.04 billion in April 2011, the agency has forecast that India will overtake the United States and become the biggest consumer market for diamond jewellery over the next three years.

The Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) will present the first Israeli Diamond Pavilion at the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, June […]

India, the world's largest diamond processing market, is in a bind. The country that imported close to $7.5 billion in rough diamonds last year has not been able to shake off the embargo on the import of diamonds from Zimbabwe. Traders maintain that this has left the door wide open for more imports into China. In a bid to crackdown on reports that conflict or blood diamonds are being smuggled into India and laundered there, the Indian government had earlier blocked the import of roughs from Zimbabwe.