News
Richemont, Signet in talks to join De Beers consortium – report
Luxury group Richemont and US retailer Signet Jewelers are in advanced talks to join the Global Diamond Consortium (GDC) bidding for De Beers, according to five people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports.
16 october 2026
Rio Tinto begins Q4 of 2026 with strong operational performance
The Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto has reported its third-quarter 2026 results, highlighting strong operational performance.
16 october 2026
Silver market deficit to widen in 2026 - report
In the latest World Silver Survey prepared by the Silver Institute and Metals Focus, the global silver market deficit is forecast to widen for the sixth consecutive year to 46.3 million ounces.
16 october 2026
Tharisa signs PGM offtake deal with Valterra Platinum, expands chrome collaboration
South Africa’s Tharisa has entered a binding arrangement for the sale of PGM concentrate to Rustenburg Platinum Mines, a subsidiary of Valterra Platinum, effective 1 January 2027.
16 october 2026
Norilsk hosts Nornickel’s 3rd Geology and Mine Surveying Forum
The 3rd Geology and Mine Surveying Forum, organized by Nornickel, has kicked off in Norilsk. The event continues to grow in scope, this year bringing together representatives from universities, equipment suppliers, design teams, mining companies, and...
16 october 2026
The End Of Shopping As We Have Always Known It?
27 june 2017
(idexonline.com) - Remember the old days when we used to go to shopping malls to buy products? When we would leisurely walk through the mall, looking into endless shops and checking booths, enjoying the experience before loading up and heading home? We may not have approached that point yet, and the above may possibly relate more to 2027 than 2017, but the countdown for shopping malls has been underway for some years. In the United States, the sight of crumbling monstrosities built in the 1960s that nobody is interested in reviving is not uncommon. The retail sector continued to build too much space into the 1990s and early 2000s, and that created a bubble similar to the housing bubble which burst with such disastrous results in the great financial crisis of 2008. The result was doors closing and dropping rents, and eventually closures.
In Vegas, a Discussion on Changing the Diamond Narrative
26 june 2017
(nationaljeweler.com) - To preserve the value of diamonds in the eyes of the next generation’s consumers, there’s a job to be done by stakeholders at every point in the diamond pipeline, according to a panel of experts convened at JCK Las Vegas. The panel, sponsored by SRK Exports (Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd.), a global polished diamond supplier and De Beers sightholder, was organized to celebrate SRK’s new branding strategy and latest e-commerce platform. It featured moderator Rob Bates, news director of JCK magazine, and panelists Tom Moses, executive vice president and chief laboratory and research officer at the Gemological Institute of America; Erik Jens, CEO, Diamond and Jewellery clients, ABN Amro bank; and Paul Rowley, executive vice president of global sightholder sales at De Beers.
Report Sees Luxury Sector Sales Rising – But Challenges Abound
23 june 2017
(idexonline.com) - Has the luxury market turned a corner, helped by a recovery in sales in mainland China and elsewhere? After decreasing by around one percent in 2016 – the first decline in seven years – the personal luxury goods market appears to be turning around, according to new research from the business consultancy Bain & Co. The first quarter of this year has seen growth of around 4 percent – albeit aided by weak comparisons from the same period last year when acts of terror combined to batter sales. Nonetheless, Bain & Co forecasts a 2-4 percent growth rate for 2017, and sales rising to €254 billion-€259 billion. Further afield, Bain expects luxury sales globally to reach $290 billion within three years.
Is This Lab-Grown Diamond Company Trolling the Trade?
22 june 2017
(jckonline.com) - I came across a release from Ada Diamonds, a Silicon Valley–based, lab-grown diamond distributor: Ada Diamonds…recently discovered a number of undisclosed mined diamonds mixed into multiple parcels of laboratory-grown melee diamonds, ranging from 0.01 carats to 0.06 carats. The discovery, in two separate batches, was subsequently confirmed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Ada Diamonds exclusively works with laboratory grown diamonds and has removed the mined diamonds from their supply. … As a result of the discovery of illicit mined diamonds, Ada Diamonds has implemented enhanced screening procedures to further inspect all parcels of melee diamonds as well as all finished jewelry to ensure that all diamonds sold by Ada Diamonds are in fact grown, not mined diamonds. It was a little hard to take this release seriously. There have been numerous documented cases of the opposite—undisclosed man-made diamonds being passed off as naturals. There is a good reason for that: Since nonmined diamonds typically sell for less than naturals, there is an economic incentive to disguise one as the other. There is little incentive to do the reverse. That would be a pretty inept criminal activity. In addition, while it’s obviously wrong to misrepresent any stone, a mined diamond does not legally have to be disclosed, like a synthetic does. That’s because, under the Federal Trade Commission Guides, a diamond is assumed to be from the Earth.
Sierra Leone: Feature-Bridge in Sierra Leone Sparks Row Over Diamond Mining
21 june 2017
(allafrica.com) - A dispute over a bridge in eastern Sierra Leone thought to span diamond deposits has divided a local community with a foreign mining company accused of illegally mining the area after volunteering to rebuild the overpass. The Congo Bridge in Koidu, the capital of Kono District, was deemed by local authorities to be in danger of collapsing after years of illegal small-scale mining around the base. With backing from the government, structural repairs started in mid-2016 by Israeli owned Pluto Mining Company but this prompted fears of large-scale mining as excavators removed raw materials from under the road, river banks and nearby wetlands. A coalition of Kono activists joined Sierra Leone's Environmental Protection Authority and National Minerals Agency to condemn the bridge work that removed the natural buffer and led to the flooding of local houses, making more than 60 people homeless. The groups say this is one example in an ongoing wave of foreign companies stepping in to offer free infrastructure repair as a means to conduct exploratory work in mining-free zones, overriding local residents rights to land.
