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...
Yesterday
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.
Yesterday
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.
Yesterday
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.
Yesterday
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.
13 october 2026
The world wants more PGMs, and Northam’s Paul Dunne has a plan to deliver them
16 september 2021
(miningmx.com) - Paul Dunne says he was teased for claiming Northam Platinum would become a one million ounce a year platinum group metals (PGM) producer. The ribbing may have been entirely warranted: when Dunne took up the firm’s leadership seven years ago, there was some skepticism about him. Amid today’s rocketing PGM prices it’s difficult to recall just how tough it was for the sector’s miners in 2013. “We had the deepest downturn in the PGM industry’s history,” Dunne said at the firm’s north Johannesburg offices. By the end of the price drought, two platinum miners had gone out of business, while the industry’s balance sheet shrank drastically. With no money to spend, PGM mining firms stopped projects and with that, retarded the industry’s ability to respond to a demand recovery. Dunne describes this condition as a “deep hurt” that damaged the industry’s asset base. It is, in fact, at the root of the price rises today across every metal in the so-called PGM basket.
De Beers to Launch New Origin Program
15 september 2021
(diamonds.net) - De Beers is introducing a new program called “Code of Origin” that enables retail jewelers to sell the miner’s diamonds and tap into its branding. The initiative is part of a wider effort to raise the company’s profile among consumers. The program, which is in the development stage and will be scaled up over the next year, is structured to give designers and retailers greater access to the De Beers name, company executives said in an interview with Rapaport News at the JCK Luxury show.
Bigger is better for Lightbox lab-created diamonds
14 september 2021
(jewellermagazine.com) - Lightbox, the De Beers-owned lab-created diamond fashion jewellery business, has announced that it will now manufacture and sell larger stones, while maintaining its $US800 per carat pricing model. From October, Lightbox will offer pink, blue and white lab-grown diamonds in sizes up to and including two carats, with a 2-carat round brilliant lab-grown diamond pendant retailing for $US1,600 plus the cost of setting. Previously, Lightbox pieces were limited to one carat.
Why Leonardo DiCaprio’s conflict-free diamonds could soon be made in Spain
13 september 2021
(english.elpais.com) - (elpais.com) - With Leonardo DiCaprio as investor and advisor, the Diamond Foundry company has made the sun and solar technology key to its choice of location for its new diamond factory project – settling on Trujillo in the Extremadura province of Cáceres, in Spain. As well as being one of the most precious jewels in the world, diamonds are also used in industry due to their properties as a semiconductor, with the potential to convey one million times more electrical current than silicon. The drawback is that nature takes several thousand years to form a diamond underground. Now, however, technology companies such as Diamond Foundry have managed to “grow” the gems, using plasma reactors that reproduce the pressure and heat conditions necessary for their creation. These diamonds – which are free from the negative suspicions often associated with those extracted from the bowels of the earth, as depicted in Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie Blood Diamond – are ready in six to 10 weeks. But the whole process requires vast amounts of energy, which the company wants to draw from renewable sources.
The battle for Namdia diamonds
13 september 2021
(namibian.com.na) - The state-owned Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) plans to start auctioning some of its diamonds on the internet, but there are concerns that the parastatal continues to sell rough diamonds cheaply to buyers in Dubai and India. Namdia, a 100% state-owned company, born out of an agreement between the government and diamond giant De Beers in 2016, was established to 'test' whether Namibia was getting the best income through the multinational by going onto the open market. But question marks have always lingered around Namdia's formation, especially since it was started by ministers accused of corruption in the past, such as former minister of justice Sacky Shanghala and former minister of mines and energy Obeth Kandjoze. Critics believe that Namdia – led by Kennedy Hamutenya – is still being used to enrich a clique of individuals in Namibia and Dubai.
