Diamond News Archives

An Angolan delegation led by President Joao Lourenco has arrived in Moscow for a four-day visit. The Russian publication Kommersant wrote that “although this is the Angolan leader’s first visit to Russia in this capacity, he does have first-hand knowledge about the Russian capital, since he studied at the Military-Political Academy here in 1978-1982. While attending the Russia-Angola business forum on Wednesday, Lourenco assured Kommersant that the two countries were close spiritually in many areas, not only in international politics. He informed the paper that representatives of both countries’ specialized agencies would sign six cooperation agreements in various areas in the presence of both presidents on Thursday.”

Angola is a priority area of Russia’s cooperation in Africa, Kommersant quoted Sergei Nenashev, a senior research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for African Studies. "To begin with, that was the case since the time when Angola fought for its independence. Secondly, this is due to Angola’s huge economic potential," explained Nenashev who served as Russia’s Ambassador to Angola in 2007-2012.

"Now the country lives off oil, gas and, partially, diamonds. On the other hand, Angola has vast resources. It used to produce up to 200,000 tonnes of coffee per year at some point. Today, Russia and Angola maintain ties in all areas of interstate relations, including culture, education, personnel training, military-technical, financial and economic cooperation," the expert stressed....

Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) said Thursday it had concluded drilling on the Frischgewaagt and Hartbeesfontein farms, which form part of its Thorny River diamond project, in South Africa.

The next step, the miner said, is obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals to start the bulk sampling program, which is expected during the second quarter of the year.

Botswana Diamonds has also finished refurbishing a nearby processing plant to process the bulk sample kimberlite.

Early-stage work is also progressing on potential secondary diamond deposits in the project area, with a number of targets identified, the miner confirmed, adding that the nearby and worked-out Marsfontein diamond mine was host to eluvial diamond deposits running at grades of 1,433 carats per hundred tonnes.

Last year, Botswana completed Thorny River's technical and economic study, which indicated potentially positive economics using the top end of the 46-74 carats per hundred tonnes grade and $120-220 per carat value ranges.

Botswana, which was overtaken by Russia as the world’s top diamond producing country in 2014, is grappling with aging mines, as well as power and water shortages.

Still, the nation is home to some of the world’s most prolific diamond mines, including Lucara Diamond’s (TSX:LUC) Karowe operation, where the now-famous Lesedi la Rona, the second-largest gem-quality diamond to ever be found, was unearthed in 2016.

Besides diamonds, the country also produces nickel, copper, coal and iron ore.

The post Botswana Diamonds finishes drilling at Thorny River project appeared first on MINING.com....

Gold was quietly steady last night, trading either side of unchanged in a narrow range of $1290.25 - $1294.60.  The yellow metal dipped to its $1290.25 low during early Asian hours, as the US dollar retained its firm tone (DX holds 97.30), helped by some weakness in the yen (111.28 – 111.58, anti-risk yen offered), a move up in the US 10-year bond yield (2.522% - 1-week high), and continued strength in global equities.  The NIKKEI was up 1.0%, the SCI rose 1.2%, European markets were up from 0.1% to 1.2%, and S&P futures were + 0.5% with optimism over the progress of the US –China trade negotiations (FT reports most outstanding issues resolved, Liu He in Washington today to resume talks) and a strong reading on China’s Caixin Services PMI fueling the advance.  However, gold rebounded to its $1294.60 high during later Asian and European time – albeit in a choppy fashion- as the US dollar pulled back below 97 to reach 96.96.  The greenback was pressured by strength in the pound ($1.3121 - $1.3185 hopes for a Brexit resolution as PM May meets with Labour’s Corbyn today, shrugs off weak Services PMI), and the euro ($1.1200 - $1.1255, German 10-year bund yield turns positive off stronger German and Eurozone PMI data).

 At 8:15 AM, a weaker reading on US ADP Employment Change (129k vs. exp. 180k) knocked S&P futures off their highs (2886 to 2882), and tugged the US 10-year yield down to 2.51%.  The DX, which had a modest bounce to 97.06 fell back to 97, and gold – which had slipped to $1291 – bounced to $1294.

 US stocks continued to pare gains through their open (S&P +8 to 2875), while the 10-year yield hovered around 2.515%. The DX, however, turned higher...

FTC staff sent eight letters^[1] to jewelry marketers warning them that some of their online advertisements of jewelry made with simulated or laboratory-created diamonds may deceive consumers, in violation of the FTC Act.

The letters note that in July 2018, the FTC issued updated Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries^[2] that provide marketers with information on how to make non-deceptive representations about jewelry and related products, including mined, lab-created, and simulated diamonds.

Failure to follow the Guides, the staff warns, may result in enforcement actions if the FTC determines the companies engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices. Such actions could result in civil penalties if the company engaged in practices knowing that the Commission has already deemed them deceptive in earlier litigation.  

In the letters, the staff expresses concerns that some of the companies’ advertising fails to conform to the current version of the Guides, and may therefore deceive consumers. Specifically, the staff points out examples where the advertising might imply that a simulated diamond is a lab-created or mined diamond, or that a lab-created diamond is a mined diamond, or where required disclosures about the source of the diamonds are not proximate to the individual product descriptions.

To help educate the companies, the letters caution them not to use the name of any precious stone, including diamonds, to describe a simulated or lab-created stone, unless the name is immediately proceeded by a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the product is not a mined stone. The staff also encourages companies selling simulated diamonds to avoid describing their products in a way that may falsely imply that they have the same optical,...