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

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