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

France plans to speed up mining projects for faster energy transition

16 april 2024

France is considering a move to tap into its mineral resource base faster to push for greater self-sufficiency in the green energy transition.

According to the country's finance minister Bruno Le Maire cited by Bloomberg, the potential measures include halving the time needed to obtain research permits for geothermal energy, mining and carbon dioxide storage.

“Let’s use France’s strengths,” Le Maire said in a speech at the opening of a new geothermal plant project. “We’ve got wind, hydro, biomass, solar energy, as well as resources in our soil that we must quickly use.”

France may get back into domestic copper mining projects after more than a two-decade halt due to a growing need from the renewable energy sector, while new lithium projects may cover two-thirds of the country's needs for electric-vehicle batteries by 2035, according to the government.

Meanwhile, France’s national geothermal action plan, published in 2023, aims to triple the production of renewable heat from deep geothermal energy to 6 terawatt hours between 2022 and 2028. It also seeks to triple renewable heat from geothermal heat pumps by 2030 to 10 terawatt hours.

Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished