News
Copper 360 intersects new copper sulphide mineralisation at Rietberg
Copper 360 has intersected copper sulphide mineralisation at its South African Rietberg underground mine about 16 metres before reaching the planned 300 Level (300L) elevation, earlier than expected from the company's geological model.
Today
Namdeb seeks State recapitalisation as diamond prices erode revenue
Namdeb Holdings, comprising Namdeb and Debmarine Namibia, has approached the Namibian government for financial assistance as falling global diamond prices cut into revenue, The Namibian reports.
Yesterday
Nornickel and Reksoft Implement "smart vision" to protect production
Nornickel has deployed a neural network-based video analytics system across its facilities, designed to prevent equipment breakdowns and production stoppages, the company’s press service reported.
Yesterday
Lundin achieves record quarterly gold output at its flagship Ecuador mine
Vancouver-based Lundin Gold has reported that in the third quarter of 2026, gold production at its Fruta del Norte mine in southeast Ecuador hit a new quarterly record.
Yesterday
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
Anglo asset sales readying group for a takeover, says analyst
08 april 2016
(miningmx.com) - The much-vaunted restructuring of Anglo American was preparation for the company’s takeover, said Paul Gait, an analyst for Bernstein. “No longer does this feel simply like an asset slim-down in order to repair the balance sheet in the near term,” said Gait in a report dated March 29. “Instead it feels like a management team driving towards an exit of the business in the medium term,” he added.
Panama Papers: Steinmetz Guinea deal pried open
08 april 2016
(Times Live) - Heavy is the head that wears the crown. For the Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), the company’s investment in the world’s largest iron ore deposit, Simandou, located in the far interior of Guinea, may not be worth the mineral’s perceived value: $10 billion. In 2009, the BSGR empire’s namesake, Beny Steinmetz, acquired rights to mine the Northern portion of Simandou at the bargain bin price of just $165 million. Soon after, he sold 51% of the rights to Vale for a whopping $2.5 billion. The strategy made sense: Steinmetz had no significant experience in mining outside diamonds – a mineral easier to mine and sell than iron, which requires extensive infrastructure that costs hundreds of millions for such projects. That’s precisely what Rio Tinto, the mining company that previously held the whole concession, had done through investing more than $450 million. Internal data from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based offshore fiduciary, shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and obtained by Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung pries open the corporate structure of companies involved in the deal.
Panama Papers: Flaws in Sierra Leone’s diamond trade
07 april 2016
(Times Live) – Dodgy dealings within the Steinmetz Group seems to indicate undervaluing of diamonds, which is costing Sierra Leone tax payments. He is De Beers’ most prolific diamond buyer, a supplier to the luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co., and an alleged criminal, accused of bribing the wife of a former Guinean president to land a multibillion-dollar iron deal. Given that profile, it’s not surprising that Beny Steinmetz and his eponymous company try to stay out of the limelight. But with the Steinmetz Group’s alleged tax avoidance scam in South Africa and an ongoing US grand jury investigation into corruption in Guinea, for the past two years, Steinmetz hasn’t been able to keep his name out of the headlines. So, to avoid exposing the company, the embattled billionaire allegedly sold his 37.5% share in the Steinmetz Group’s diamond segment, Diacore, to his brother, Daniel, in 2014. Steinmetz left the Steinmetz Group’s diamond business, Diacore, but has kept a business in Sierra Leone diamonds through the British Virgin Islands-based entity Octea. The company, which he runs through BSG Resources (BSGR), counts the Steinmetz family as beneficiaries. Unlike BSGR which operates in West Africa, Diacore maintains a presence in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Leaked data from a Panama-based offshore fiduciary Mossack Fonseca, shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, sheds light on the internal financial structures created by BSGR to camouflage Octea’s financial activities. The data reveals a BSGR corporate structure, dated 2015, identifying Octea as wholly owned by Guernsey-based BSGR Resources – the latter directly involved in the Guinea scandal. In turn, BSGR is owned by several foundations based in Liechtenstein and Switzerland such as Nysco and Balda.
Te Koop
06 april 2016
(polishedprices.com) - I have never understood why so many, if not the vast majority, of retailers selling diamond jewellery insist in stuffing their windows as if it were a butchers shop. My only explanation is that it must be to give the staff a job putting all the knick knacks out in the window in the morning and then having to collect them all to be tucked away in bed in the evening. It cannot be for the customers as I have yet to see any customers in those dreary shops that I walked past. Just as the industry itself has in essence changed so little over the past however long, so retailing of diamonds has hardly progressed, and indeed in many ways regressed. I cannot imagine that when buying some ridiculously ‘over priced’ hand bag, the customer asks for a certificate to prove that the bag is made of real leather, though I have always been a little suspicious of those LV bags which to my uninitiated eye look very ‘synthetic’, but I suppose having LV tattooed over every inch must provide sufficient comfort. Buy a piece of diamond jewellery and everyone is rushing to produce bits of paper to prove that they are selling the real thing, which presumably given the selling environment the customer might be having second thoughts about.
Disruption & Diamonds
05 april 2016
(thediamondloupe.com) - Bart De Hantsetters, Chairman of the Syndicate of the Belgian Diamond Industry, discusses the need to embrace the new forces ‘disrupting’ a traditional business like the diamond trade. The ship of innovation is setting sail with or without you, so it is better to get on board – as Antwerp has – and build the new on the foundations of the old. Things around us are changing, and we can’t control these things the way people used to do some ten, fifteen years ago. You see, there are many more examples of disruptive forces out there. How will we approach the fact that more and more synthetics are entering the market, disclosed and undisclosed? How will we convince tomorrow’s consumer to buy our product? How can we motivate young people to step into the business? Is it feasible and relevant from a societal perspective to push for full traceability, from mine to finger?
