News
Indian jewellers promote natural diamonds amid competition from lab-grown stones
Falling prices for lab-grown diamonds and their resulting rise in market share are transforming India’s diamond jewellery market and prompting jewellers to take proactive measures.
Yesterday
Ethiopia opens first gold refinery to serve region
Ethiopia has inaugurated its first gold refinery, a $50 million joint venture that the government hopes will establish the country as a regional hub for precious metals processing, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced over the weekend, according to Reuters...
Yesterday
Anglo American bets R11.2B on South African mining's future
Anglo American has reaffirmed South Africa's potential as a premier mining investment destination, even as the company commits R11.2 billion ($677 million) to an ultra-high dense media separation iron-ore project at Sishen in the Northern...
Yesterday
Nornickel forecasts $4 billion in precious metals revenue for 2026 - report
A senior Nornickel representative noted that the company expects to generate $4 billion in revenue from precious metals sales this year.
Yesterday
Russia to build first permanent REM magnet plant
In 2028, Russia is set to start the construction of its first plant for manufacturing permanent magnets from rare-earth metals (REM) in the city of Glazov, to be commissioned in 2029 with an initial capacity of 500 tonnes per year, said Andrey...
Yesterday
Stargems brings the DaVinci system to Botswana
24 october 2022
Stargems, which was founded by Shailesh Javeri in 1981, has diversified into manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and tendering or auctioning of diamonds and diamond jewellery.
It is also one of the leading players in the manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing of jewellery. The company recently established a Synova DaVinci Diamond Factory in Botswana, a country that is well known for producing rough diamonds and is strongly encouraging local benificiation. Stargems managing director Vishal Shah told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the acquisition of the DaVinci system, a first in the Southern African region, demonstrates their desire to add value to rough diamonds in the region. The technology, which was also recently introduced in Dubai, cuts and polishes diamonds quicker and with swag.
Coloured diamonds are the best investment option if anyone would like to invest in diamonds
10 october 2022
Dr Sergio Calqueiro, the President and Managing Director of the Dubai-based ‘Foz Gold & Diamonds Trading’ has been dealing in polished diamonds, gold, Import & Export, International trade and development for the past six-plus years. Sergio is also the CEO of High-Tech Concepts Marketing (HTC Marketing), a private corporation in Germany, providing Modular Energy Storage Systems for almost 12 years. HTC also manufactures structural spaces for Storage Systems. Earlier, as COO of JHG GmbH in Germany, Sergio gathered vast knowledge and experience in Engineering and Mining for ten years, but not before his stint in Research & Development of green technologies for three years as CEO of Lightstone Technologies Inc, a London-based company.
Here, in an exclusive interview, Sergio Calqueiro speaks of his dream to build ‘Foz Gold & Diamonds’ into a top trading company, with the opportunity that Dubai Hub offers…
What Jagersfontein diamond mine staff should have done to avoid the dam wall collapse
03 october 2022
A mine dam wall at South Africa’s Jagersfontein diamond mine in Free State province recently collapsed twice within two weeks, killing one person and damaging properties. The dam at the disused mine held liquid waste from a tailings reprocessing operation. De Beers sold the mine and tailings in 2010 to Superkolong Consortium, which comprised black investors. However, Stargems bought the mine and the surrounding dry tailings dumps last April and remain the owner and operator through its South African subsidiary Jagersfontein Developments. Vietti Slurrytec director Andrew Vietti told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the tailings behaviour can be modified for the clays to settle and the thickener to operate properly.
He said it was unfortunate that the mine staff were unaware that modifying the process water chemistry could have solved the problem.
“The global diamond industry must now learn to steer clear of this obstructive and outdated “blood/conflict diamond” terminology,” says Dr M’zee Fula Ngenge, Chairman, African Diamond Council
26 september 2022
Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge, the Chairman of the African Diamond Council (ADC), a Mining Engineer and highly respected Senior Strategy Advisor celebrated 40 years in the global diamond industry this year. He acts as a professional liaison within the international diamond trade and is well-positioned to influence, both, the public and private sectors. In 1986, Dr M‘zee was instrumental in introducing the Ideal & Super-Ideal Cut diamonds to the global diamond supply chain. These highly sought-after Hearts & Arrow diamonds have rapidly increased in popularity since the 1990s. He also served as Chief Administrative Developer in 2000 and became Project Launch Team Coordinator in 2001 for Kimberley Process (KP), a diamond certification scheme to eradicate blood/conflict diamonds. In 2001, Dr M'zée was a principal trustee and decisive proponent to establish Dubai as a major diamond and jewellery manufacturing centre, laying the foundation for the successful launch of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in 2002. In early 2017, M'zée drafted a bold and assertive revenue recovery proposal that urged the Republic of Angola to implement "Operation Transparency; and in late 2018 an internationally lauded campaign that was effective in combatting illegal immigration, unlawful exploration of diamonds as well as environmental crimes related to the plundering of natural resources, such as diamond smuggling. At the beginning of 2019, Dr M'zée was assigned as Chairman and Managing Director of the African International Diamond Exchange (AIDEX), Africa's most transparent rough diamond supplier for four diamond exchanges in Antwerp, the Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan, the world's largest diamond bourse in Mumbai as well as the largest Free Zone in the United Arab Emirates. At the end of 2019, he was entrusted as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the African Diamond Trust Fund (ADTF), a fully integrated, autonomous financial depository and vault operator for ethically mined rough diamonds originating in Africa. Here, in an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished, Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge speaks about various issues impacting the global diamond industry currently, but not before touching on crucial matters concerning Africa’s diamond industry and his perception of his country’s future.
Anglo American Platinum makes significant investments in SA’s hydrogen economy
19 september 2022
Anglo American Platinum continues to make significant investments in South Africa’s hydrogen economy, according to a company spokesperson. The Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) miner’s external communication principal Nomonde Ndwalaza told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that they are taking a multi-pronged approach to this. She said they made investments and partnerships to establish a hydrogen valley in South Africa, invest in renewable energy, and technological developments such as the hydrogen-fueled mine haul truck. Meanwhile, Ndwalaza said Anglo American Platinum experienced a robust PGM basket price of $2,671 per PGM ounce in the first half of 2022, the second highest on record as a result of strong underlying fundamentals for PGMs. She said they continue to face pressure on PGM prices but the quality of the assets they have means the company have a diversified basket of metals and a strong basket price.
Ellen Joncheere: I am launching a new initiative to support young designers globally
12 september 2022
Ellen Joncheere, CEO of HRD Antwerp, in an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished told about the history of the HRD Design Awards and its new, 18th edition.
Hari Krishna Exports eyes untapped diamond jewellery markets
05 september 2022
Ghanshyam Dholakia, born in a farmers’ family in a remote village Dudhala in Gujarat was inspired along with his siblings by his father to follow their destiny and this led them to Surat city - a world of opportunities! In the early seventies, Ghanshyam’s elder brothers moved to Surat and entered the world of diamonds. Not interested to continue studies, Ghanshyam decided to drop out in 1989 and follow in his elder brothers’ footsteps in the diamond manufacturing industry. For the next 2 years, he worked day and night and mastered the nitty-gritty of diamond manufacturing and trading. Next, led by their eldest brother Savjibhai Dholakia, established the company ‘Hari Krishna Exports’ in the year 1992. Since then, there was no looking back for the company, which began with a turnover of $20,000 in 1992 and reached a whopping turnover of $1.5 billion in the year 2022. In 2005, Ghanshyam Dholakia came up with the idea of launching their retail brand - KISNA in the Indian domestic diamond jewellery market… which is now spread in over 3300 outlets across India. Today, Hari Krishna Exports is associated with all the major mining companies in the world and exports polished diamonds to almost 81 countries of the world. In the last 30 years, the company has transformed and adapted to the changing trends in the industry to remain competitive… Here, in an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished, Ghanshyam Dholakia, while taking pride in the company’s achievements, looks to the future to expand and grow as opportunities come by...
There truly is a shift of interest of the masses in LGDs
29 august 2022
Shashikanth Dalichand Shah, Chairman of Lab Grown Diamond & Jewelry Promotion Council (LGDJPC), has been promoting the lab-grown diamond and jewellery sector for the past few years spreading awareness of lab-grown diamonds and helping and educating traders in the sector. A businessman in his own right Shashikant D Shah is the founder and owner of DM Gems which was established in 2003. The very next year the company was appointed as Distributor for Gemesis Cultured Diamonds (Gemesis Corp.) and entered the world of lab-grown diamonds (LGD). Armed with a commerce degree, Shashikant Shah entered the diamond trade by opening a diamond jewellery showroom exclusively for Nakshatra and Asmi brands in 2003 and has not looked back since. In an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished, Shashikanth Shah talks about the recently concluded LGDJ Expo in Mumbai; and also foresees a great future for the LGD sector globally.
De Beers steps up efforts to deliver net positive impact on biodiversity by 2030
22 august 2022
Anglo American’s 85%-owned De Beers Group, which has operations across the diamond pipeline from exploration to retail, wants to protect the environment. Group spokesperson David Johnson told Mathew Nyaungwa’s Rough&Polished in an exclusive interview that De Beers has the potential to play a major role in creating solutions and encouraging best practices across their supply chain. He said the group is actively managing biodiversity and protecting threatened species across approximately 500,000 hectares of protected land in southern Africa, reintroduced buffalo to its Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve and partnered with the National Geographic to help protect the critical source waters of the Okavango Delta in southern Africa. De Beers also invested $2 million in the innovative start-up company Kelp Blue to fund a pilot project planting a giant underwater kelp forest, initially off the coast of Namibia. This should help lock away carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, Johnson said De Beers’ Environmental Policy and Lifecycle Planning and Management Standard require all of its operations to have detailed and adequately funded, closure plans in place. He said they also review their safety risks regularly as part of their Operational Risk Management process and their safety performance is constantly under review.
The main factor that impacts the price increase of colored diamonds is that fewer diamonds are unearthed every year
15 august 2022
Seasoned senior hi-tech executive Miri Chen, the CEO of FCRF joined the Fancy Color Research Foundation five years ago. Before heading the FCRF, Miri served as Head of Business Operations and Chief of Staff at global technology companies. Her close interactions with top authorities in the diamond industry provided her with valuable expertise and made her even more passionate about the field. Miri now leads the foundation, setting its vision and strategy roadmap, developing its dynamic products and services, and providing its members with innovative solutions that enhance fancy color diamond proficiency. Miri is no stranger to corporate community involvement and outreach. She has a long record of incorporating social responsibility and volunteering for charities in Israel and around the world. At the FCRF as well, doing business and doing good go hand in hand. The FCRF’s proud partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation means that for every membership, a significant portion is donated to fulfill the dreams of chronically ill children. As Miri explains, “Our involvement with the Make-A-Wish Foundation represents the core values of the FCRF. Diamonds are precious, but nothing is more valuable than doing something for someone else.”
Here, in an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished, Miri Chen speaks about FCRF, coloured diamonds and its future.
