Congo’s cobalt production set to soar despite claims of child labour

Two reports this week suggest that fears of a prolonged period of global economic austerity following the financial crisis have been overblown. In Hong Kong Christie's experienced its best ever auction with buyers spending $469m on wines, antiques, art and particularly jewellery. At $9,342,219, the pictured pair of Golconda diamond ear pendants – dubbed the Imperial Cushions – set an all time record price per carat. At the other end of the scale prices have also been rising at a rapid rate. Demand for one carat and smaller stones from India and China pushed the International Diamond Exchange's polished diamond index to a new record in May surpassing the previous record level achieved in the pre-recession summer of 2008 and up 12.5% so far this year.

United Uranium and Star Uranium announced that they have completed a ground magnetic survey on their Fort a la Corne diamond properties. The Claims are situated immediately adjacent to the eastern border of the Shore Gold Inc. Fort a la Corne project. The survey was completed by Apex Geoscience of Edmonton, Alberta, and included an analysis of the jointly held Fort a la Corne diamond properties in Saskatchewan.

Indian DTC Sightholder Shrenuj & Co. saw revenue rise by 30% to $545.19 million (Rs.24.57 billion) and profit increase by 11% to […]

Stornoway Diamond announced plans for an upcoming exploration drill program at the Hammer Property located within the Coronation Gulf/North Slave Diamond District of Nunavut. The Hammer Property is a joint venture between Stornoway (75% and operator) and North Arrow Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAR) (25% participating) and hosts the Hammer kimberlite, which was discovered by prospecting in July 2009.

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.