Dmitry Fedorov: I want our jewelry to be displayed at a museum in the future

Dmitry Fedorov is the founder of the eponymous jewelry house. His main focus is the creation of Orthodox-inspired premium luxury jewelry of high artistic merit. He told Rough&Polished about his journey in the jewelry industry, about choosing the ‘Orthodox...

28 october 2024

Responsible business practices ‘no longer optional’, says WDC President Feriel Zerouki

The president of the World Diamond Council takes time out of her busy schedule to tell Rough&Polished readers about the critical work of the WDC. Zerouki, the first female present of the body, which includes all the important industry organizations among...

14 october 2024

James Campbell: Botswana Diamonds optimistic as it enters uncharted territory of using AI for mineral exploration

London-listed Botswana Diamonds has expressed optimism about the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to scan the exploration database in Botswana to look for new mineralised deposits. Company managing director James Campbell told Rough...

07 october 2024

Artur Salyakayev: For me, happiness is freedom to make my ideas happen and create valuable products

Artur Salyakayev is an art entrepreneur, founder of the International Jewelry Academy (IJA) and the INCRUA jewelry company. He has initiated and developed successful projects in jewelry industry and services sector. He is also a leading expert...

30 september 2024

Paul Zimnisky: China key for sustained recovery in demand for natural diamonds, prices

The curtailing of upstream and midstream natural diamond production in the past months is starting to have an effect on prices, according to the New-York-based independent diamond and jewellery analyst and consultant, Paul Zimnisky. He told Rough & Polished’s...

23 september 2024

Blue Rock Diamonds achieves better results in 2021 over previous year despite challenges

05 july 2022
Blue Rock Diamonds, the AIM listed diamond producer, which owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa, announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2021 saying that the achieved results are significantly better than in 2020 despite major challenges including shutdowns due to DMR, Covid-19 and extreme weather.
The company said that its 2021 diamond output in carat terms went up by 53% over the previous year, which brought about more than doubled revenue driving it to £7.85m, while the number of recovered larger stones increased reaching a value in excess of USD50,000.
Blue Rock commissioned a new plant designed to increase production at Kareevlei to 1Mtpa from c 400,000tpa. The mine’s diamond resource was increased by 49% in net tonnes to 10,368,300 permitting to start opening up the main pit to reflect the upgraded Diamond Resource at depth and area. All this proves that Kareevlei’s fundamentals remain solid, the company said.
“The diamond market recovered well in 2021. Average price per carat in 2021 was USD470 compared with USD295 in 2020, although prices in 2020 were significantly impacted by Covid-19 and the consequent cancellations of the diamond auctions. Interestingly, the 2021 average price of USD470 is 13% higher than the average for 2019 of USD415, indicating that the market has come back stronger after the pandemic. Since the end of the year the market was initially volatile with a big spike in prices in February largely linked to the Ukraine situation. It has since stabilised, but at prices significantly higher than our average for 2021. We expect the supply side of quality diamonds, as those recovered by Kareevlei, to remain tight for the foreseeable future, with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine affecting the supply of rough diamonds,” said Michael Houston, Executive Chairman of Blue Rock.