De Beers shines light on budding jewellery designers

Diamond giant De Beers will this year conduct its bi-annual Shining Light Awards jewellery design competition. De Beers beneficiation manager Kagiso Fredericks told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview they set aside 4.5 carats...

22 july 2024

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club mulls diamond safari tours in southern Africa

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club (DDC) is set to organise diamond safari tours in southern Africa, home to major diamond-producing countries. DDC founder Agnes Abdulahu told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa that the launch of the first diamond safari...

15 july 2024

Vladislav Zhdanov: Questions of efficiency and investment potential of diamond mining versus diamond growing pique keen interest

Vladislav Zhdanov is Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). He told Rough&Polished about new researches into the effectiveness of diamond production methods.

02 july 2024

Why it's expensive to cut and polish diamonds in Africa? ADMA president António Oliveira has the answer

The African Diamond Manufacturers Association (ADMA) president António Oliveira told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the lack of a robust infrastructure in Africa fails to accelerate and encourage manufacturing...

24 june 2024

Edahn Golan: IPO feasible but not Anglo’s preferred way to sell De Beers

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that while an IPO of De Beers is “feasible,"  he does not think this is a route Anglo American...

17 june 2024

Sri Lanka's President aims for $2bn annual export revenue from gems and jewellery industry

17 august 2023

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe urged officials in the gem and jewellery industry to swiftly provide comprehensive plans for achieving the country’s objective of bolstering annual export earnings through enhancements in the gems and jewellery exports and re-exports.

He stressed that progress toward this year’s target growth in the industry has not met the expectations compared to the previous year. Hence, he emphasized the necessity of implementing a well-structured strategy aimed at attaining an annual export revenue of at least two billion US dollars.

Furthermore, the President revealed that recommendations pertaining to tax policies for the advancement of the gems and jewellery sector were submitted to him by the Sectoral Monitoring Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe assured that the government is fully prepared to provide necessary support and facilities if a formalized plan to elevate the gems and jewellery industry in Sri Lanka is presented promptly.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished