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...

17 february 2025

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

Angola opens new diamond mine

27 november 2023

Angolan President João Lourenço is set to open the Luele diamond project today in Lunda Sul province, approximately 35km from Saurimo.

The Luele kimberlite was discovered in November 2013.

Angola’s mineral resources ministry said preliminary studies of the geological potential show that the Luele kimberlite has an ore quantity of 647 million tonnes that will result in the production of 628 million carats.

The mine is projected to run from 2023 to 2083.

At least $635.3 million was spent to get the project up and running.

Catoca owns a 50.5% stake in the project, Endiama controls 25%, Falcan owns 19.5%, an unnamed pension fund has a 4% shareholding, and the Geological Institute of Angola controls the remaining 1%.

Meanwhile, a source who preferred anonymity told Rough & Polished that Luele changed its name from Luaxe but could not tell why.

Recent sanctions on Russian diamonds could have motivated the change, another source said.

Catoca owned a 50.5% stake in Luaxe, which it still owns in Luele.

Alrosa and Endiama own 41% of Catoca, respectively, while Leviev International-LLI (China) holds the remaining 18%.

Endiama and Alrosa each held another 8% stake in Luaxe, but the former now owns a bigger stake in Luele, which demonstrates a change in ownership structure.

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