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

Gaetano Cavalieri: CIBJO leading the jewelry industry on critical issues

One of the gem and jewellery industry’s most well-known and respected personalities, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, has been the president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), for the past 23 years. CIBJO is the oldest international organisation...

09 december 2024

Tsodilo seeks contempt of court against Botswana minerals minister

25 january 2024

Tsodilo Resources has petitioned the Botswana High Court for an interlocutory motion, requesting minerals and energy minister Lefoko Moagi to explain why he should not be deemed in contempt of court for his non-compliance with a December 15 High Court order.

The High Court had ruled that Moagi's denial of Tsolido's renewal application for a prospecting licence (020/2018) was unlawful, illogical, and arbitrary.

He was asked to renew the licence within 14 days and to synchronise the effective dates of contiguous licences (PL 021 to 024/2018) with the renewed licence.

Tsodilo said the minister failed to comply with both of these obligations, and it requested that the High Court declare him in contempt of court and impose a fine of one day's worth of interest and penalties for failing to comply with the judgement.

If this is not possible, Tsolido requests that the court sentence Moagi to a period of incarceration, suspended under terms the court deems reasonable.

Additionally, the company requested that the court order Moagi to reimburse it for the continuous legal expenses it has accrued as a result of this issue.

“We believe the matter will be resolved in short order, and we can resume the evaluation and development of the Xaudum Iron Formation (XIF) project,” said Tsodilo chief executive James Bruchs.

Tsolido owns the Gcwihaba project area where the XIF project is located.

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