CHART: Despite unnerving gold price fall, mining rally’s intact

Laurelton Diamonds, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiffany, has purchased a Sarin Technologies Galaxy 1000 device for their inclusion mapping and diamond […]

Real estate magnate Lev Leviev has sold his 18% stake in Angola's Catoca diamond mine to China's Sonangol International for $400 million, Russia's "Kommersant" newspaper reports. Leviev acquired the stake in the Angola mine in the 1990s for $20m. Russia's state owned diamond producer Alrosa holds 32.8% of Catoca. Last week Alrosa provided a rare glimpse into its finances and operations ahead of a possible public offering. The state-owned company supplies about a quarter of the world’s diamonds and in 2010 produced more of the precious stones than De Beers, historically the dominant miner and marketer of the gems.

Japan dispelled fears among many diamond traders that after the earthquake and following tsunami that hit the country on March 11, it will lose its taste for diamonds. In April, Japan imported $95.7 million worth of polished diamonds, increasing by 80.1% year over year, and by 56.8% from March. The increase in imports proved once again, as predicted, that when a country is hard hit, it express its feelings more openly, often with diamonds. This was the case in after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and again in the recent sub-prime economic crisis.

Arjav Diamonds, part of the DTC Sightholding group Blue Star Diamonds, has launched an online auction for rough diamonds, out of the Indian diamond-processing city of Surat. Blue Star chairman Ashit Mehta told IDEX Online that the auction consisted of 60 lots of large stones. "All the goods on auction are above 4.80 carats," Mehta said, adding, "Prices range from $1,500 p/c all the way up to $25,000 p/c, with an average price for the entire auction of $3,000 p/c."

Botswana exported $462.5 million worth of polished diamonds in March, a 50.7% year-over-year increase in exports, based on figures released by the Bank of Botswana. This brings the country’s first quarter diamond exports to $1.019 billion, the highest value ever in the first quarter. The exceptional level of exports, which include rough and polished diamonds, gained 34% over the first quarter of 2010 and is 0.2% above exports in the first quarter of 2008.

A Conference Board of Canada report says high energy and metals prices "are prompting resource companies to invest billions in iron ore projects, nickel processing and offshore oil developments" in Newfoundland and Labrador, generating the largest growth in real GDP this year of all the Canadian provinces." The board's Provincial Outlook - Spring 2011 report issued Wednesday also forecasts that Saskatchewan "will benefit from tax breaks and a hot mining industry."

The secretive Russian diamond giant Alrosa on Thursday provided a rare glimpse into its finances and operations ahead of a possible public offering. The state-owned company supplies about a quarter of the world’s diamonds and in 2010 produced more of the precious stones than De Beers, historically the dominant miner and marketer of the gems. Alrosa's president Fyodor Andreyev said an internal audit showed its diamond reserves at 1.28bn carats, making the company the world's biggest holder: “At current extraction rates, the company's reserves will last more than 40 years.”

Reuters reports on Tuesday Russian diamond monopoly Alrosa may use the spoils of high diamond prices to develop an asset in northwest Russia rather than let a foreign miner such as Rio Tinto onto its territory, a source close to the company said. The source said on Tuesday high diamond prices meant Alrosa had enough cash to finance development of the Sevalmaz project by itself. Russian business daily Vedomosti reported in December that it could sell a 49% stake to the global miner for almost $400 million.

The Israeli Diamond Industry website reports the governor of Zimababwe's central bank is proposing that the country sell its diamonds to fund a gold-backed currency to replace the defunct Zimbabwean dollar, which was suspended due to hyperinflation. The Antwerp-based Diamond High Council estimates that Zimbabwe will become the largest producer of diamond in the world by 2013, with an expected volume of 40m carats per year worth some $2bn annually from the rich deposits in Marange. Zimbabwe is currently the subject of an international ban on the export of its diamonds.