News
Diamond jewellery sales in India set to increase 15% - 20% on sharp rise in gold prices
Indian diamond jewellery retailers anticipate a 15% - 20% increase in sales during the 2026 festive season, driven primarily by the sharp rise in gold prices which prompts consumers to consider diamond jewellery in more affordable price range...
Today
South Africa mining output falls 12.7% in August on weak PGMs, coal and iron ore
South Africa's mining output declined 12.7% year-on-year in August, according to Statistics South Africa, with platinum group metals, coal, and iron ore accounting for the largest negative contributions.
Today
Aterian expands copper footprint at Azrar project in Morocco
Aterian has identified multiple copper showings and substantially expanded the known mineralisation footprint at the Amane Target of its 85%-owned Azrar Copper-Silver project in Morocco, following initial exploration fieldwork.
Today
Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources identifies region with largest platinum and palladium deposits
Russia retains second place globally in terms of platinum and palladium reserves, while the largest deposits of these metals are concentrated in Krasnoyarsk Territory, according to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.
Today
Tharisa meets FY2026 guidance, Karo Platinum fully funded as net debt swings to $51m
Tharisa has reported full-year production in line with guidance for both platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome concentrates, while confirming its Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe is now fully funded following a $300 million bond issue.
Yesterday
De Beers’ Lab-grown Diamonds Company Begins Selling Loose Stones
02 november 2021
(yahoo.com) - De Beers’ lab-grown diamond offshoot is picking up the pace. Lightbox, which launched in 2018 with lab-grown diamonds offered in shades of white, blue and pink, will begin selling loose stones today. Previously, Lightbox-branded stones were only available in set jewelry designs. Now consumers will be able to buy the lab diamonds in various sizes to set as they wish, at a hard price of $800 per carat.
The LGD Price Anomaly: Demand Rises, Prices Decline
01 november 2021
(edahngolan.com) - Economy 101 maintains that prices rise with demand. The logic is that when the market wants more of something, competition pushes up the price. But sometimes, there is a price anomaly, and prices behave differently. Enter lab-grown, for instance. When consumer demand for lab grown (LG) was relatively low, there was a frenzy to join the supply chain. Everyone from producers to retailers wanted in. So far, the result of this frenzy is the LGD Price Anomaly: rising consumer demand and declining wholesale prices.
A New Twist on Chameleon Diamonds
29 october 2021
(idexonline.com) - There's nothing new under the sun. So said King Solomon, the wisest of all men. But even the familiar sometimes takes us by surprise. You might imagine we know everything there is to be known about diamonds. After all, they're billions of years old, we've been schlepping them out of the ground for the best part of a century and a half, and we've built a vast industry around people's desire to own them. And yet there's stuff we're still discovering. Like the fact that some diamonds change color at low temperatures. We've known for a while that a tiny number of diamonds - dubbed chameleons - react to high temperatures. They change from an olive green to a lighter orangey yellowish hue when heated to between 302F and 482F / 150C and 250C. There are also reverse chameleons - even rarer - which change the other way, from a light orangey yellowish hue to olive green when they're kept in the dark. But now there's a new kid on the block - diamonds that change color in the cold.
The world’s largest manufacturing center faces some unfamiliar challenges amid apparent supply and labor shortages.
27 october 2021
(diamonds.net) - “We’ve seen it all before,” was the collective sigh that rang through Mumbai’s massive Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) when the pandemic initially broke out. “We got through other crises, and we’ll get through this one.” The local diamond trade has a reputation for its distinct brand of optimism and cautious confidence, having thrived through the 2008 downturn and survived the many challenges in the decade since. Some of those challenges have been uniquely Indian. There was the round-tripping debacle of 2012, which fueled a bubble in bank credit and diminished lenders’ trust in the trade. And there was the government’s demonetization program in 2016 — often referred to as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on cash. While demonetization was deemed necessary to counter the rampant money laundering in the country, it sucked liquidity from the local diamond trade, putting businesses — predominantly small ones — under additional pressure in an already difficult market. When it comes to global crises, India’s diamond community has been able to work in a more unified way. Yet in 2020, when the global market shut down as Covid-19 began to spread in late March, India’s dealers, manufacturers and jewelers — like those across the globe — were left dumbfounded. It soon became clear this was unlike anything they had previously experienced. Uncertainty and fear that the economic impact of the pandemic would surpass all other crises set in. This time, Indian manufacturers didn’t need to take such deliberate collective actions, though they claim to have done so anyway. The market made the decision for them: Mining companies stopped selling rough, and trading froze. Besides, no one could travel to buy goods.
Good News For Luxury? 60% Of China’s College Kids Expect To Be Millionaires
26 october 2021
(jingdaily.com) - The hashtag #over 60 percent of college students think that their yearly earnings will reach one million within ten years after graduation# appeared in the hot search list on Weibo, attracting widespread attention. The topic has now hit 530 million views. China Youth Daily, an employment survey for college students from all over the country, recently revealed surprising numbers — 70 percent of interviewed college students born after the 2000s will prioritize their professional careers over their intimate relationships. Additionally, as many as 68 percent of them estimated they would be earning one million yuan ($155,000) yearly within ten years of graduating. The results of the survey have opened lively debates on social media: Some netizens consider it a good signal that young people refuse to engage in “lying flat 躺平,” meaning not willing to do anything and that they are ambitious enough to dream about earning a high salary. Meanwhile, others believe these college students are way too naive with their unrealistic income expectations.
