Tracr passes 5 million rough diamonds milestone as De Beers expands provenance push

De Beers Group's blockchain-enabled traceability platform Tracr reached a significant milestone in 2025, with more than 5 million rough diamonds individually scanned and registered, up from 2.8 million cumulative registrations reported in 2024. The...

28 september 2026

South African diamonds head to Hong Kong: SDT partners with BRINKS for JGW 2026

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) has confirmed the country's participation in Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong (JGW) 2026 through a partnership with BRINKS. SDT marketing and communication manager Tsholofelo Gopolang Tselapedi...

14 september 2026

David Benderly: PermaScribe seeks to put trust mark on diamond table, not just girdle

In this interview with Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa, PhotoScribe Technologies president and chief executive David Benderly explains how PermaScribe differs technically from conventional laser inscription, its potential to strengthen security, and...

31 august 2026

The great reset: Paul Zimnisky on supply catharsis, De Beers' bargain and the case for natural diamonds

The natural diamond industry is in the throes of its most profound reset in a generation. Supply is plunging to its lowest level since 1987 and De Beers—once valued at over $9 billion—is reportedly being sold for as little as $1 billion.
Lab-grown...

10 august 2026

Roman Karakurkchi: Maintaining the highest standards of jewelry craftsmanship

Roman Karakurkchi is the founder of the Roman Karakurkchi jewelry brand and the International Jewellery School that brings together instructors from Russia, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and Germany, as well as students from 65 countries...

03 august 2026

DRC's Gecamines offer to buy copper assets from ERG

15 february 2024

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) state miner Gecamines has formally proposed to acquire a portion of Eurasian Resources Group's (ERG) copper and cobalt assets in the country to recoup the value of partner-owned projects and amass reserves of green transition-critical metals.

Reuters quoted the chairperson of the DRC mining company, Robert Lukama, as saying that they have the financial means to acquire three of the Kazakh miner's assets in the country.

He could not mention the specific mines or ventures that Gecamines intends to acquire.

"We have a firm proposal, and we can confirm our proposal," Lukama said.

"We showed our seriousness, and we showed that we have the means to buy the assets."

The Kazakhstan government owns 40% of ERG, a Luxembourg-based company whose Congo holdings consist of the Frontier mine, Comide, Metalkol, and Boss Mining, as well as some development and near-production assets.

The ERG and DRC authorities have been engaged in negotiations to have the suspension of Boss Mining operations lifted.

Last June, the government suspended ERG's operations because the organisation had caused environmental pollution.

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