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
Is China’s Population Decline a Luxury Disaster?
12 october 2021
(jingdaily.com) - According to new research, previously estimated rates of China’s demographic decline might have been severely miscalculated. In fact, the country’s population could halve within the next 45 years, warns a new study from Xian Jiaotong University. This number was based on the official birth rate of 1.3 children per woman last year (well below the figure that would safeguard the population of two per woman). China’s current population is over 1.4 billion, and the 2019 United Nations projection that the country would still have around 1.3 billion people by 2065 now looks to be incorrect.
The greenwashing of gold mining
11 october 2021
(theecologist.org) - New mining projects are being re-branded clean, green and vital to climate action across Europe. The reality is very different. There has been a surge in the number of mining projects and a massive expansion of areas under mining concession in the island of Ireland, Fennoscandia and across Europe in recent years. As much as 27 percent of the Republic of Ireland and 25 percent of Northern Ireland is under mining concession, with a single company, Dalradian Resources, holding concessions for 10 percent of the latter's land area. Meanwhile, Nordic nations have issued mining exploration permits covering millions of hectares of land, including in Sapmí, the homeland of the Sámi Indigenous People.
A call to action: Adopt the upgraded system of warranties today
08 october 2021
(worlddiamondcouncil.org) - Since the start of the Kimberley Process, members of the diamond trade have been adding a declaration to their sales documents, each time a transaction is finalized along the entire supply chain, from mine to retail. It’s become a customary act in our industry, but a massively important one, for it verifies to the next participant in the supply chain that the diamonds involved are compliant with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), and thus can be considered “conflict free” according to KP doctrine. This is the WDC’s System of Warranties (SoW), an industry-applied mechanism that links rough and polished diamonds to the KP certificate with which they originally were associated, each time the stones change hands. Participants are also required to store copies of SoW declarations made and received, so that a verifiable trail, a “chain of warranties,” is created as diamonds move through the pipeline. The SoW was born out of the will of the WDC to strengthen and expand the KPCS and create the industry’s first self-regulation mechanism.
Trust deficit: If the mining sector is taking ESG seriously, why isn’t society listening?
07 october 2021
(miningmx.com) - Let’s get the obvious out of the way: is mining really changing? Or are the billions of pixels spent in lengthy exposition of ESG - environment, sustainability and governance - merely a rendition of that old chestnut: ‘When we talk environment we mean business’ (nudge, wink)? Some think authentic change is afoot. “We see a focus on real risk management, not just legal compliance,” says James Lake, an environmental scientist who works at SRK, a Johannesburg-headquarted engineering firm. Mining firms he speaks to are no longer focusing on ‘can we get the permits?’ Investor and social pressure on mining and energy firms is immense. In recent times, mining has been one of Hollywood’s common tropes every audience could recognise and feel itself in opposition to. In Avatar, for instance, film director James Cameron’s 2019 blockbuster, the desire for the fictional rare mineral ‘unobtanium’ stands for insatiable human greed sweeping aside all regard for sanctity. In this way, mining is to the environment what Russian spies were to nuclear disarmament in a 1970s James Bond film. Popular consciousness aside, the public sector response lately has been to hit mining where it hurts: in its pocket.
One mighty share issue saved Petra Diamonds. Now CEO Richard Duffy plans to have it thrive
06 october 2021
(miningmx.com) - With the loan restructuring completed – which reduces Petra’s debt to manageable levels – and a sustainable recovery hopefully underway in the global diamond market, CEO Richard Duffy is hoping the worst is over for the embattled diamond miner. An added bonus would be a successful outcome to the discussions currently underway between Petra and the Tanzanian government over a revised regulatory framework which would lead to the re-opening of the mothballed Williamson mine.
