Exclusive
Diamond market crash is Africa’s opportunity, not its crisis – M'zée Fula Ngenge
Global natural diamond supply is forecast to fall below 95 million carats this year, the lowest since 1987. For Dr. M'zée Fula Ngenge, chairperson of the African Diamond Council (ADC), this is not a death knell but a clarion call. In an exclusive...
Yesterday
Tracr passes 5 million rough diamonds milestone as De Beers expands provenance push
De Beers Group's blockchain-enabled traceability platform Tracr reached a significant milestone in 2025, with more than 5 million rough diamonds individually scanned and registered, up from 2.8 million cumulative registrations reported in 2024. The...
28 september 2026
South African diamonds head to Hong Kong: SDT partners with BRINKS for JGW 2026
South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) has confirmed the country's participation in Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong (JGW) 2026 through a partnership with BRINKS. SDT marketing and communication manager Tsholofelo Gopolang Tselapedi...
14 september 2026
David Benderly: PermaScribe seeks to put trust mark on diamond table, not just girdle
In this interview with Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa, PhotoScribe Technologies president and chief executive David Benderly explains how PermaScribe differs technically from conventional laser inscription, its potential to strengthen security, and...
31 august 2026
The great reset: Paul Zimnisky on supply catharsis, De Beers' bargain and the case for natural diamonds
The natural diamond industry is in the throes of its most profound reset in a generation. Supply is plunging to its lowest level since 1987 and De Beers—once valued at over $9 billion—is reportedly being sold for as little as $1 billion.
Lab-grown...
10 august 2026
Strong comeback of the diamond industry
22 march 2021
The diamond industry, which bounced off the bottom in July and August last year, received a strong support from the strong holiday jewellery sales, and in 2021, it is ready to compete in the growth rates with other beneficiaries of the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. January-February 2021 again proved to be successful for all segments of the ‘diamond pipeline’ as the diamond miners demonstrated the record sales, the midstream margins grew amid high diamond prices, and jewellery sales exceeded all expectations. The diamond inventories in the pipeline are at their lowest in 7-8 years, which prompts the diamond cutters to buy heavily while the consumer demand is supported by the US stimulus package. The confidence in the market stability allows the diamond miners to raise prices for rough diamonds that have already returned to their pre-crisis levels, as well as to speed up resuming the operation of the mines that were under care and maintenance last year.
Diamonds vs coloured gemstones
15 march 2021
Rough&Polished correspondent Sergey Goryainov sat down for a talk with Professor Andrey Ametistov, a Russian gemologist to discuss similarities and differences between the diamond market and coloured gemstones market.
Blessing in disguise: pandemic and a new interest in diamonds
08 march 2021
The period 2020-21 of the global diamond and diamond jewellery industry could be termed as the most trying and arduous ever faced in recent times. When COVID-19 made its appearance, the diamond industry as part of the luxury sector was majorly impacted, due to lockdowns, travel restrictions and other hurdles. This, in turn, resulted in demand for diamond and diamond jewellery becoming localized which again put a brake on the growth of the industry globally, negatively impacting the economies of most countries. But, the diamond industry, slowly and surely, returned to a strong position towards the 2020 year-end, bring the much-needed cheers and confidence across global.
Growth Momentum in Recovery as We Review 2020
01 march 2021
In the first half of 2020, the COVID-19 swept through the world against our expectations. In the second half of 2020, the market recovered faster and better than we thought. In the gloomy year of 2020, we do see the dawn of light and strength.
Indian diamond industry: Looking forward
22 february 2021
As of now, with the markets opening worldwide after the COVID-19 lockdown, the gems and jewellery industry seems to be in recovery mode and exports have begun to markets in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe and other countries. The Indian diamond industry is optimistic about exports picking up after lockdown, as there are initial signs of recovery from markets in the US, China and Europe… and export orders have seen a steady rise over the past 4-5 months. The gems and jewellery export units are working in full swing and trade is getting back to normal recovery of exports.
The ‘Godfather’ of the USSR diamond industry: a portrait against the background of the era
15 february 2021
Exactly 80 years ago, in 1941, the Uralzoloto Trust’s Teplogorsk diamond mine began its commercial diamond mining at the placer deposits of the Western Urals. That was the birth of the USSR diamond industry. This industry had an undeniable ‘father’ whose personality and biography are so extraordinary that he must not escape our attention in connection with the glorious anniversary.
Vast Resources waiting for Godot in Chiadzwa?
08 february 2021
AIM-listed Vast Resources said in September 2019 that it had concluded a joint venture with Chiadzwa Mining Resources, a company designated to represent Chiadzwa Community interests in the Chiadzwa Community Diamond Concession. The joint venture resulted in the establishment of Katanga Mining, which will in turn partner with the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to mine diamonds in Marange.
Polished diamonds for investor: Is it so rewarding to buy them?
01 february 2021
Among many surprises brought by 2020, there was an unprecedented surge in the interest of the Russian residents in the stock market as the number of brokerage accounts increased from 4.2 to 8.8 million. The trading volume in the stock market hit an all-time record to double the 2019 result. But the main interest of the Russian investors was focused on the foreign, primarily, US issuers. Through the portfolio investments, the Russian residents transferred $10.2 bn abroad, which is 5 times more than in 2019. The beneficiary of this process was the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange that offers over 1,500 most liquid foreign instruments to the Russian investors and increased its turnover from $5 bn to $25 bn in 2020. The main reasons that the Russian residents prefer the assets in US dollars are clear. This is, first of all, the desire to indemnify from the depreciation of the rouble and diversify the portfolio through the instruments that are completely absent or underrepresented by the Russian companies. For example, in the pharmaceutical sector that looks especially attractive due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian counterparts of Pfizer, Merck or Johnson & Johnson simply do not exist. The same can be said about a dozen more sectors of the economy - unfortunately, the Russian stock market is catastrophically narrow in comparison with the US one. Jewelry retail also belongs to such sectors. There are no Russian issuers here, and the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange offers the investors the shares of the US-based Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG), the largest diamond jewelry retailer, which have been showing very interesting dynamics lately.
Moscow Jewelry Week: Wishful thinking or a reality?
25 january 2021
As they write now in every article about the jewelry business, the past 2020 turned out to be very difficult for the jewelry industry throughout the world. The drop in sales, the restrictions of flights, the bans, other restrictions and the cancellation of all exhibitions made all the jewelers look at their business and its prospects in a different way. A lot has already been written about this, and there will be written even more. In this article, I would like to dwell on such a very topical issue for the Russian jewelers as the Moscow exhibitions. Despite the fact that our NS CNC company does not directly conduct business in Russia, however, for many years, I have to visit the main Moscow Junwex Exhibition held at the VDNKh (Exhibition of National Economy Achievements) every year in autumn and I visit sometimes the Junwex Exhibition held in St. Petersburg where our machines are usually exhibited. My opinion is that of an outside observer.
Trust between industry and indigenous communities - from myth to reality
18 january 2021
On January 1, 2021, the diversified mining giant Rio Tinto officially changed its CEO. Jakob Stausholm took up this high position. The unplanned rotation was caused by the destruction of an ancient Aboriginal sacred cave in the Juukan Gorge. Most of the assets of large industrial companies are located close to indigenous communities. Thus, the active industrial development of natural resources in different parts of our planet cannot but have an impact on the indigenous minorities living in these areas.
At present, giant companies in the global industry are increasingly focused on the trust between the local communities and business, on the ‘green economy’, sustainable regional development, and in particular, on strengthening the local communities’ role in the business development. In this regard, the companies are increasingly aimed at attracting the local people to their business, strengthening their relations with the native population. They set themselves the task of preserving the local ethnic groups and national heritage.
