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
Risks and advantages of Angola's ‘Udachnaya’ pipe
09 october 2017
Last May, it became known that ALROSA would buy a share in the Luele diamond pipe that is part of the Luaxe concession. The Russian company considers the Luele pipe as the largest among the deposits discovered over the last 60 years. This is a kind of a conditional forecast but, on the other side, it is not the first year that ALROSA studies this pipe and works at Catoca in the Lunda Sul province, located 20 km away from the Luele pipe. For the first time, the Russian specialists came to this area in 1995, and the Russian technologies were used to build Catoca’s beneficiation facilities, and over this period, it has become the fourth miner in the world by volume. Nowadays, Catoca accounts for 75% of the Angolan diamond production, and this year the mine will produce 6.5 mn carats worth $600 mn.
New Diamond Jewelry Demand Being Created by Changing Role Of Women
02 october 2017
De Beers may have arrived at the party a little late, but nonetheless new research that it published in its latest Diamond Insight Report provides detailed evidence about the rapidly changing role of women as diamond jewelry buyers. The research talks about "shifting relationship dynamics, women’s expanding roles in society and changing perceptions of femininity" which are creating "new motivations for diamond jewelry acquisitions".
Search for diamond deposits and junior exploration companies in Russia
25 september 2017
The founder of the Russian mining science, mineralogy and chemistry, Mikhail Lomonosov, in his treatise "The First Foundations of Metallurgy or Ore Mining" (1763) predicted the possibility of discovering diamonds in Russia's "midnight lands," having stated this in his book “On the Layers of the Earth”: “... In the north ... we cannot doubt that diamonds could have happened there ... and they can be found.” His prophecy came true in the 1980s, when the first primary diamond deposit on the Winter Coast of the Onega Peninsular was discovered and named after Mikhail Lomonosov.
Genuine transparency: Sine qua non for growth of Zim diamond industry
18 september 2017
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe claimed early 2016 that $13 billion was lost through leakages since diamond mining began in Marange in 2006. A local non-governmental organisation, Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) then said last July that the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KP) could have assisted Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF to “plunder” diamond revenues since 2011.
Mir Disaster Puts Diamond Industry's Excellent Record In The Spotlight
11 september 2017
Just a month after the terrible disaster at ALROSA's Mir mine in Yakutia where eight miners lost their lives following a sudden flooding at the underground operation, attention turns to the safety record of the diamond mining industry. It might appear to be too soon to talk about the subject with the memory of the catastrophe still fresh in the mind and with families and friends of the eight miners still grieving terribly, but the accident nonetheless leads our attention to focus on the safety precautions and standards that are in place.
Looking towards better days...
04 september 2017
Of late many Indian diamond as well as jewellery companies have been hit hard due to the slowdown in the international consuming markets. On the one hand, there is insufficient demand, both from overseas markets as well as in the domestic market, as compared to earlier times; and on the other, payments from clients have been delayed leading to numerous problems for the Indian exporters. And rightly so, the industry is rather apprehensive regarding the oncoming Christmas season... what with the Jewellery Shows in US / HongKong this year turning out into a damp squib.
Southeast Asia: a treasure-trove of the world’s rarest pearls
28 august 2017
Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s most beautiful pearls. Known for their big size and unique shine, South Sea pearls are very rare and therefore highly sought after. The Philippines and Indonesia have been known as Asia’s largest South Sea pearl producers. Outside of the region, Australia is also famous for making these rare gems. According to government figures, Indonesia became the world’s biggest producer in 2015 with a market share of 43 percent during that year, thereby overtaking Australia. It currently makes around 5.5 tons of pearls a year, but the Ministry of Trade claims the country has the potential to produce at least 20 tons annually. Indonesian pearls come in different colors from white to deep gold, while the Philippines is particularly famous for its golden pearls.
Children's jewelry – still something of an untapped market
21 august 2017
Children's jewelry is a sector of the market that has been quietly growing even though it receives little media coverage and is a much smaller part of sales than the adult sector. Traditionally, the children's jewelry sector has been composed of christening bangles and bracelets and commemorative brooches. However, it is now branching out to include earrings and charm bracelets, among other items. Meanwhile, the phenomena that is Pandora jewelry, has come about due sales largely to girls in 12-18 age group.
DRC: Poor value eclipses new status as world’s second largest diamond producer
14 august 2017
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a resource-rich country, yet very poor, had been bleeding, literally, for quite some time with no prospects for peace on the horizon. Apart from a never-ending war between the government troops and drug-crazed rebels, the country also plunged into a political turmoil as President Joseph Kabila refused to vacate office when his term came to an end last December. Apart from the instability, which dominates news headlines on a daily basis, the country registered a huge leap in diamond production last year.
Indian Diamond industry at cross roads
07 august 2017
"This sector has come a long way from where it was. However, it is still far, far behind where it should be. Our strongest area is diamond cutting and polishing. In terms of the global value, our market share is much lower than it should be. Our future is much bigger than cutting and polishing. We have a lot of unexplored potentials," said PM Narendra Modi to diamond industry. “Go beyond cutting and polishing, make India a manufacturing hub.”
