Sarine’s David Block: Diamond Industry at Standstill Until Chinese Demand Returns

David Block is CEO of Israel’s Sarine Technologies and has served in the position since 2012. In this exclusive interview for Rough and Polished, Block gives his opinion on the leading issues affecting today’s diamond trade.

11 september 2024

Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge: Demand for considerable-sized diamonds stronger than ever

The African Diamond Council (ADC) chairperson Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that although overall global diamond prices have been somewhat soft, the demand for considerable-sized diamonds...

02 september 2024

Amplats sees prospects as a standalone company

Anglo has revealed its plans to demerge Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which has operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe, to optimise shareholder value. Rough&Polished contacted Amplats to comment on this and other issues but was referred...

19 august 2024

WFDB President Yoram Dvash Remains Confident Despite Global Diamond Challenges

Yoram Dvash is President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) having been elected in 2020. He found time in his busy schedule to speak to Rough&Polished about the state of the diamond industry around the world and some of the major...

12 august 2024

Lyudmila Vysotskaya: Amber is a mystical stone, a living substance

Lyudmila Vysotskaya is a Kaliningrad-based amber artist and designer, expert, chairwoman of the Amber Academy and member of the Creative Union of Artists in Decorative and Applied Arts. This summer, visitors could admire the art works by Lyudmila Vysotskaya...

30 july 2024

Nornickel calls for tax holidays for builders of social facilities in the Arctic

11 june 2024

According to a representative of Norilsk Nickel, in order to accelerate the development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, the government should consider the possibility of providing tax holidays for companies that build social facilities in this region.

“We built Aika. This is the largest sports complex in the Arctic. We spent 3.6 billion rubles, maintenance costs 120 million rubles, 80 million rubles in taxes. Maybe for companies located in the Arctic zone, tax holidays could be introduced, for example, for five years,” TASS quoted Norilsk Nickel vice-president Andrei Grachev as saying at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

According to him, in the Arctic, the construction of housing is low-marginal, high-cost: 1 sq. m costs 249 - 315 thousand rubles. He also recalled that Norilsk Nickel is currently carrying out a large-scale renovation of Norilsk, which includes not only the construction of new residential areas, but also the construction of social facilities.

In total, the comprehensive development plan for Norilsk until 2035 involves investments of 120 billion rubles, of which more than 80 billion rubles are taken on by the company.

Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished