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
Technology in the Diamond Industry: Manufacturing
12 may 2017
(ehudlaniado.com) - Diamond cutting and polishing is perhaps the area where technology has changed the industry the most. The first diamond scaif was invented in the 1400s and the technological improvement has not stopped since. Today’s manufacturers use cutting edge tools that increase yields, worker productivity, and profits. Even the way rough is sold is influenced by these developments, since the calculations of polished yield from a rough stone needed to be adjusted upwards because of this advanced machinery. Let’s take a look at some of these amazing machines, which continue to change our industry.
Making the grade: understanding exploration results
11 may 2017
(resourceworld.com) - The most exciting news from a mining exploration stock is a high-grade drilling result. But what constitutes a good assay? It varies from situation to situation and commodity to commodity. Listed below is some rule of thumb information on interpreting drill results for investors. The first thing investors must understand is that high-grade mineralization is relative to the depth of the intersection and relative to the size of the intersection. Today’s mining technology allows mining on a vast scale, with large open pits and huge 200-tonne mining trucks capable of processing large volumes of ore at a low cost. This is possible, provided the zone is near surface and the ore zone is large enough to be mined in bulk. Open pits are generally less than 300 metres deep and are several hundred metres in diameter. Two questions to ask are: 1) Is the zone less than 300 metres deep? and 2) Is the drill intercept over 100 metres thick? If both of these questions can be answered ‘yes’, then the threshold for what constitutes ‘high-grade’ will be dramatically lower. As a rule of thumb, open pit mining can process ore for $10 per tonne and, where the ore grade is more than double that at $20 per tonne, results would be economic. Consider that 1% of a metric tonne is 22 pounds. Then, for a commodity worth about $1 per pound such as zinc, 1% zinc worth $22 per tonne becomes interesting. Grades triple that, worth $66 per tonne when less than 300 metres deep and more than 100 metres thick, would be considered high-grade. Using the same dollar figures for mining, but considering other commodities, here are some high-grade intercepts for other commodities and a few recent examples.
Isabel Dos Santos: Diamonds and Husband
10 may 2017
(makaangola.org) - Angola, which is a major supplier of rough diamonds to the world market, is to hold parliamentary elections in August 2017, in the run-up to which some publications of the past years dedicated to diamonds once again look relevant. One of such articles was published in 2014 by Maka Anglola, a website run by journalist Rafael Marques de Morais.
Technology in the Diamond Industry: Rough Sorting
10 may 2017
(ehudlaniado.com) - Unlike in some sectors of the diamond industry, rough sorting and price evaluation are still largely done by skilled people examining the diamonds. Walk into any rough diamond sorting room, and you will find a few standard tools that are used almost universally to assist in classifying rough stones. In the past few years, however, new technology has been developed that is helping automate rough sorting, especially for smaller diamonds that are laborious to sort manually. Other minerals that can infiltrate a parcel of diamonds can sometimes fool even the most skilled rough sorter. This is especially true of smaller diamonds, which tend to be present in huge quantities. Diamond testers are a tool to help sorters establish if a questionable stone is indeed a diamond, or a similar-looking stone such as silicate. Diamond testers work by sending heat into the stone, and by measuring how quickly the stone conducts the heat. Each type of mineral has its own unique conductivity signature, and this helps determine if the stone is indeed a diamond. The one drawback to diamond testers is that for the moment, many of them cannot distinguish between diamonds and moissanite, a common substitute for diamonds that requires a separate tool to evaluate.
2017 Global Natural Diamond Production Forecasted at 142M Carats Worth $15.6B
05 may 2017
Mined diamond production in 2017 is estimated to be 142.3 million carats worth $15.6B (see appendix below), which would be an 11.5% increase in carat volume produced over 2016 and an 9.9% increase in total value produced.
