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
De Beers taking Minerals Minister to court over bewildering diamond export obfuscation
07 june 2017
(miningweekly.com) - The South African government is refusing to grant an exemption to diamond mining company De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) relating to the exportation of diamonds to neighbouring Botswana for aggregation, Mining Weekly Online can today report. Aggregation is the process of mixing like-for-like rough diamonds from mines in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Canada and sustaining the South African diamond cutting and polishing industry and jobs in the process. Up to now, DBCM has received exemption yearly because once the aggregation process is complete, rough diamonds of higher value are re-imported back into South Africa for cutting and polishing, a diamond beneficiation exercise that provides jobs and adds value. But Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has denied De Beers an exemption to enable this, despite the company exceeding all the legislated criteria for its 2017/18 levy exemption application and having a track record of never missing an exemption since its enactment in 2008. As a consequence, De Beers RSA has approached the Pretoria High Court to set aside the Minister’s decision.
China: Not Only the Present, But Also the Future of Diamonds
07 june 2017
(ehudlaniado.com) - It seems that the US has always been the largest consumer market for diamond jewelry, and, for many years, Japan the second largest. It also used to be that Japan was the second largest economy after the US. Those days are gone. Today, China is the ‘Giant in the East,’ and as such, the second largest diamond consumer market. The shift of many exports to a different economy, with a different business and social culture, required a shift in approach. The diamond industry had to learn that new culture, adapt to it, and find ways to grow it.
James Allen, CanadaMark, and the Growing Trend Towards Origin Tracking
06 june 2017
(jckonline.com) - This week, James Allen and Dominion Diamond Corp. signed a deal that will give the e-tailer online exclusivity for Dominion’s CanadaMark brand. The CanadaMark program certifies a stone’s Canadian origin by tracking it from mine to consumer with audited tracking and individualized serial numbers. Miner BHP first introduced the brand with a bang in 2003, but it languished after that. In 2014, Dominion, the Canadian miner that acquired the brand when it bought the Ekati mine, vowed to resurrect it. This deal is significant for several reasons. 1) James Allen is known as an aggressive marketer, and it hopes to significantly raise the profile of the CanadaMark brand. In an interview, CEO Oded Edelman declined to say much about the company’s marketing, other than it will “put a lot of money” behind the brand, and Dominion will likely contribute to those efforts. “[The marketing] is now worth doing for us, because we are doing it for ourselves, and not for others,” he added. 2) Along those lines, James Allen has online exclusivity for CanadaMark. So while brick-and-mortar retailers will be able to sell CanadaMark diamonds, they can’t sell them online. Given the growing importance of the online channel, that’s a significant advantage. 3) Finally, it shows the growing importance of origin-tracked diamonds, as shown by the new offerings from GIA and Rio Tinto, and the continued guarantees offered by Forevermark.
How Lab-Grown & Brands Are Improving the US Jewelry Market
05 june 2017
(edahngolan.com) - As we head to the Las Vegas shows in a few days, it’s worthwhile looking at the US retail market in order to understand what it’s going through today. The changes are many: some of them are slow-moving, whereas others are fast paced. Some changes have even slipped by almost unnoticed by many, but all of these are impacting the industry – retail and suppliers – enough to be worthy of our attention. Since most of my daily focus is on the diamond industry, the focus here will be mainly from that perspective. To put it plainly, matters do not bode well for the industry at large. If it weren’t for the Chinese market, the global diamond industry would be in far more serious trouble. The US jewelry retail market is highly fragmented; when it is growing, its growth is very slow, it’s fiercely competitive, and with many businesses closing every year. Clearly, the American consumer is also not as in love with diamonds as in the past. From the perspective of the diamond industry, this means that margins are thin, turn is slow, payments are delayed and at times skipped, and insecurity is a major component of doing business. In response, we are seeing several trends.
Tiffany’s CEO on Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain
02 june 2017
(hbr.org) - Thinking back on the things that have informed my perspective as I’ve built my career, I realize that I’ve tended to focus on three passions. The first is brands. I’ve always been fascinated by what a fantastic vehicle a brand can be for communicating a company’s culture and values. My second passion is global travel. Since my childhood in France, I’ve been curious about discovering new cultures, new geographies, and different ways of thinking around the world. My third passion is the realm of art and expression—the business of creating or collecting objects that are not just functional but truly beautiful. I’ve been very fortunate to have worked for companies that allowed me to pursue these passions.
The company had gone public in 1987, and over the next decade it focused on growth and overseas expansion. For that it needed more precious metals and more diamonds. At the same time, people were becoming increasingly aware of the environmental and human costs of mining—specifically, that mines often use cyanide and other toxic chemicals to extract precious metals (especially gold) from ore, and that some diamonds originate in countries with political conflicts or human rights abuses, so sales of those diamonds may be financing violence. Awareness of “conflict diamonds” increased even more after Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie Blood Diamond was released, in 2006.
In the decade before I arrived, Tiffany led the industry in working to address these environmental and human rights concerns. Its leaders spoke out against proposals to create gold and copper mines in Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay and in Yellowstone National Park. In 2003 Tiffany led the effort to seek U.S. participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), which works to stem the flow of conflict diamonds. (Tiffany chooses to go further, declining to buy stones from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe, even though they are part of the KPCS, because of concerns about human rights abuses in these countries.)
I knew a bit about these issues when I joined the company, but I quickly learned much more. I began visiting our operations all over the world. We have five diamond workshops, where we cut and polish stones, and four jewelry-making or polishing facilities. In thinking about sustainability, our inclination is to focus on the environment, because mining by its very nature disturbs the earth and is going to have an environmental impact. But how our employees and the employees of the mines from which we source are treated is also crucial.
