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
World diamond trade in 2015-2019 and prospects for 2020
06 april 2020
The Kimberley Process is an international organization that regulates the global circulation of rough diamonds. The main goal of the process is the fight against the so-called ‘bloody’ diamonds. The ‘bloody’ diamonds were mined illegally and the money from their sale were used to finance armed terrorist groups in the world, as well as the corrupt regimes in the African countries. The organization was named after the South African city of Kimberley where a meeting was held in 2000 at the initiative of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia to find a solution to the ‘bloody’ diamond problem. At present, over 80 countries are the members of the Kimberley Process. Russia joined the organization in 2000, a few months after its establishing. In 2005, Russia chaired the Kimberley Process. In 2019, the chairmanship was held by India. In 2020, Russia chaired the Kimberley Process. The key idea of the Russia's chairmanship in the KP will be the fight against the inflow of synthetic stones in the global diamond market, as well as the providing of equal conditions for all the participants in this market.
So, is there any way to protect polished diamonds?
30 march 2020
In April 2019, ALROSA lobbied for the development of a RF government draft regulation by the Russian Ministry of Finance, according to which the jewellery studded with man-made materials featuring the characteristics (properties) of precious stones should be displayed in separate showcases in a store or other point of sale. Moreover, the showcase where the above mentioned goods are displayed should be marked as ‘jewellery containing inserts made from man-made materials’. Jewellers opposed such an initiative and put forward a number of arguments. The discussions of the ALROSA’s initiative of last year on the separate selling of natural diamond jewellery and the jewellery with synthetic stones resulted in the withdrawal of the RF government draft regulation as the authorities were convinced by the jewellers’ arguments. However, at present, as part of the activities on the so-called ‘regulatory guillotine’, ALROSA has again returned to the idea of introducing the requirements for the separate selling of jewellery with natural precious stones and that with synthetic ones into the Russian regulatory framework, but now - directly into the main industry law, the Federal Law ‘On Precious Metals and Precious Stones’.
Canada as a global diamond center
23 march 2020
Diamond mining in Canada has provided tremendous opportunities for the areas with limited possibilities, and the tax revenues continue to support the government at various levels. According to the Kimberley Process, in 2018, Canada exported diamonds worth about $2.16 bn; taking into account 10 percent royalties, diamond mining annually brings about $216 mn to the country.
Gold: perhaps, the best-known cure for coronavirus
16 march 2020
Gold investors experienced anxious moments in late February when the stock market experienced the most ‘bearish’ week since the financial crisis of 2008-09. Gold that plays the role of a protective asset has fallen victim to massive sales due to news about the coronavirus spreading around the world. In a related move, the global demand for gold is declining due to high prices and lower consumer spending in China and India. The economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus clearly does not help in changing this trend. Does this suggest that the best time of gold is behind?
Is diamond era nearing its sunset?
10 march 2020
Outwardly, mining companies comment on the decline in the global demand with Olympian calmness: there are temporary issues with the distribution of the excess supply formed in the market earlier, shortage of lending to the industry, slowdown of the Chinese economy, trade war between the USA and China, etc. In short, everything is temporary, comes and goes … And at the same time, as if just in case, they assure that synthetic diamonds have already carved out their niche, having attracted their own separate consumer, and it seems that they do not particularly interfere with the development of the natural diamond market. Moreover, the separation measures have already been taken - from administrative (introducing separate product codes at the government levels, extending the ‘price over volume’ policies, etc.) to technological measures (developing devices like D-Secure). And what remains to be done by the key participants in the diamond market - just to rely on ‘temporary challenges’ and take measures traditional for a ‘bad cycle’ period? Let's try to consider a more extensive set of drivers that supports or results in the diamond industry decline, with a special emphasis on the particular situation of the diamond mining leader ALROSA.
Can the Indian diamond industry survive the current crisis?
02 march 2020
The Indian diamond industry is facing an uncertain future with multiple challenges to tackle simultaneously. When diamond mining major De Beers reported the sale of $545 mln worth of rough diamonds in the first sales cycle of this year after a difficult 2019, it was an indication that the industry is on a recovery path. But, just when the industry showed signs of improving at the beginning of the New Year 2020, after facing demand downturn from Hong Kong and China due to the US-China trade war and the Hong Kong riots, suddenly chaos prevailed with the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in China.
Retail Margins Could Be Boosting Man-made Diamond Sales
25 february 2020
While lower prices as well as marketed ethical and sustainable benefits relative to that of natural diamonds has been the prominent narrative around man-made diamonds, a seemingly less-obvious factor is also likely helping to drive the product: the profit margin they offer retailers. When analyzing the wholesale and retail prices of unbranded man-made and natural diamonds, it appears that the retail gross margin of man-made diamonds in popular carat-sizes is as much as 1.8-times that of natural diamonds.
Palladium: a ‘bubble’ that is more expensive than gold
17 february 2020
The palladium price surge in 2019-early 2020 sets it apart from the rest precious metals. Palladium mainly used in catalytic converters for exhaust gases has outstripped the most popular precious metals in 2019 having risen in price by $ 700, to $ 1,920 per ounce. In January, palladium futures reached $ 2,500 showing a 75% increase over 12 months due to the news about declining the production in South Africa and signing the first part of a trade deal between the USA and China. The reason is the limited supply and increased demand due to tightening environmental standards in Europe and China. Despite the fact that the palladium price rally is explained by fundamental factors, the precious metal value growth rate has already exceeded all expectations and worried even Norilsk Nickel, the main palladium producer and the beneficiary of price increases.
Mountain Province Diamonds company in 2016-2022 and its prospects for the development until 2030
10 february 2020
Canada is in the pool of the top diamond-mining countries in the world ranking third in terms of the value of the diamonds mined. In 2018, according to the Kimberley Process, 23.2 mn carats of diamonds worth nearly $2.1 bn were mined in the country. The average price of one carat of Canadian diamonds was $90.44. Diamond mining in Canada is carried out by De Beers Consolidated Mines and Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. is the main (49%) De Beers Canada’s partner in diamond mining at the Gahcho Kué deposit in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Why is it that Jim and Rob may do what Ivan and Vladimir may not?
03 february 2020
Any legislative innovation in the Russian Federation is adopted, of course, with the aim of ‘improving the legislation’ governing such-and-such for the good of people. However, judging by the new rules governing the circulation of precious and semiprecious stones in the EAEU, the most perfect legislation is the one that introduces total bans on everything and anything. It prohibits not only the sale and purchase transactions, but even the storage of precious stones - under threat of administrative and criminal penalties.
