Alrosa diamond sales drop in October, but outlook remains positive

The World Diamond Council has expressed its regret about the inconclusive end to the Kimberley Process Intersessional Meeting in Kinshasa last week. The main goal of the meeting was to finally resolve the issue of diamond exports from Zimbabwe. This did not happen.

High prices sway buyers towards goods otherwise they would not have widely considered, according to exhibitors at the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. Buyers opted for Very Good makes instead of Triple Excellent and parcels instead of Dossier i...

Peregrine Diamonds reported the discovery by drilling of three new kimberlites, CH-56, CH-57 and CH-58, on the Chidliak project ("Chidliak" or "the Project"). Chidliak is located on southern Baffin Island approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada.

Zimbabwe has been given the green light to sell diamonds from its Marange diamond fields by the industry's leading certification system, but the decision did not have the backing of all members. Participants of the Kimberley Process, which aims to stop "conflict diamonds" entering the market, met this week in Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss the Marange diamond fields but remained divided over a final statement.

The World Gold Council (WGC) produced a draft framework of standards designed to combat gold that enables, fuels or finances armed conflict. The standards, which were compiled together with the WDC’s member companies and leading gold refiners are designed to enable miners to produce a stream of newly-mined gold that is certified as “conflict free” on a global basis. Image of Ethiopian soldier is from Wikipedia.

Tiffany & Co. today announced the appointment of Patrick F. McGuiness as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Outgoing CFO James N. Fernandez has been appointed to the newly-created role of chief operating officer.

Jewelry and watch demand strengthened significantly in April in the U.S. market. New data indicates that total jewelry and watch sales rose by 11.2% over the same month a year ago, the largest gain since early 2010, when the industry was beginning to recover from the recession. Further, total jewelry and watch sales for the first three months of 2011 were revised upward, and show a much more consistent, positive trend. Preliminary jewelry sales in prior months had been somewhat choppy – in line with the choppy post-recession economic growth. However, newly revised data shows a pattern of solid monthly sales gains.

On Tuesday Zambia's Finance Minister mocked Zimbabwe and South Africa for planning to forcibly raise government stakes in foreign mines, saying "the Zambian miner in 1970s was a happier miner than a miner during the period of state ownership of the mines.” Under Zimbabwe's on-again off-again indigenization policy mining companies were granted until the beginning of June to submit proposals about transferring majority ownership to locals while there are growing calls within the ruling party in South Africa to move ahead with nationalization as called for in the country's Freedom Charter.

London-listed Gem Diamonds said in a statement on Monday that it will drill four boreholes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in partnership with VOX United, a non-governmental organisation to provide the bushmen or Basarwa living in the reserve with water. The community is locked in a bitter battle with the Botswana government which accuses them of depleting the park's natural resources, while the Basarwa say that the government is violating their rights by trying to relocate them and that their impact on the environment is negligible.