Tshepo Molusi: South Africa establishes dedicated diamond retail shop in China

T3 Diamonds founder Tshepo Molusi told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa at the inaugural South Africa Diamond Show in Cape Town that the shop opened an opportunity for diamond manufacturers under the incubation to export their products to China. He...

Yesterday

Nosiphiwo Mzamo: South Africa’s State Diamond Trader to buy diamonds from other African countries

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) is set to buy diamonds from other African countries starting with Botswana. SDT’s chief executive Nosiphiwo Mzamo told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa at the country’s inaugural diamond show, which...

10 february 2025

Edahn Golan: Halo effect from lab-grown diamonds driving high demand for large, 2-carat natural stones in the U.S.

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that their research found a halo effect from lab-grown diamonds. He said the trend among lab-grown diamond...

27 january 2025

Paul Zimnisky: We will see a modest recovery in natural diamond demand and prices in 2025

According to Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond and jewellery analyst and consultant based in the New York metro area, the natural diamond industry will see a modest recovery in demand and prices this year. Zimnisky said a moderate recovery would...

13 january 2025

African Diamond Council makes traceability its top priority, wants KP to embrace Authentia.io

The African Diamond Council (ADC) has made traceability its foremost priority and has been contributing to a traceability solution called Authentia.io for the last three and a half years, which is now ready to globally satisfy the traceability...

16 december 2024

Gem Diamonds discovers a 117.47-ct diamond at Letšeng

31 october 2023

Gem Diamonds has discovered a 117.47-carat white type IIa rough diamond at its 70%-owned Letšeng Diamond Mine in Lesotho.

The diamond was discovered on October 29, 2023.

This is the fourth diamond weighing over 100 carats recovered by the company this year.

It recovered a 101.26-carat gem-quality White Type II on September 28, 2023.

Gem found a 163.91-carat yellow diamond on June 22 and later discovered a 122-carat D-color Type II white diamond on March 5, 2023.

It said last August that there had been a noticeable decline in the recovery of large, high-value diamonds. This, along with market pressure, has had a detrimental effect on the average value per carat and overall revenue achieved in the first half of 2023.

In the first half of 2023, Gem's average carat value reached $1,373, showing a dip from the previous year's $1,745 per carat.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished