Diamond News Archives
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Mining companies have requested a judicial review of South Africa's 2018 mining charter to change clauses related to transactions made in the past to increase black ownership, an industry body said on Wednesday.
In a bid to rectify the wealth disparities of apartheid more than two decades after the end of white minority rule, South Africa has demanded that a proportion of a mining company's shares are owned by black investors.
Originally set at 26 percent, the black ownership level was raised to 30 percent in 2017
Originally set at 26 percent, the black ownership level was raised to 30 percent in 2017, although companies that had already achieved 26 percent were not required to meet the higher target.
Mining companies have argued that, while they accept the need to raise black ownership to the required level, they should not be required to maintain that level should black investors sell any of their shares later.
The Minerals Council, which represents mining companies, said most aspects of the new charter unveiled in 2018 were "reasonable and workable" but said it should be changed to ensure it recognised past deals related to black empowerment.
It said this should be taken into account when a mining firm seeks to renew or transfer mining rights, deals that are now blocked if black investors do not hold an appropriate stake.
The Minerals Council said it had applied for a judicial review to set aside certain clauses in the charter, including those related to the Precious Metals Act and Diamonds Act.
Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter said the existing provision in the charter would "have a severely dampening effect on the attractiveness of mining in the eyes of investors."
He also said it breached...
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Swedish authorities on Wednesday searched the Stockholm headquarters of Swedbank, the largest lender in the Baltic region, as part of a money laundering investigation.
The Swedish bank is accused of misleading US investigators over transactions made by its clients linked to Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, which is at the center of a global tax avoidance and money laundering scandal, according to Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
What we know so far
- Swedbank confirmed on Wednesday that its headquarters near Stockholm have been raided by Swedish authorities.
- The bank is under investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) for giving misleading information related to the Mossack Fonseca tax evasion and money laundering scandal.
- Sweden's Economic Crime Authority is also conducting an independent probe into whether the bank breached insider trading regulations by informing 15 of its biggest shareholders of the scandal before SVT's report on it last month.
- Swedbank said in a statement that "no individual or legal entity has been served suspicion of a crime."
Baltic money laundering: SVT reported last month that Swedbank customers had been able to funnel 40 billion kronor (€3.8 billion, $4.3 billion) between the Swedish bank and Danske Bank in Estonia.
dv/aw (AP, Reuters)
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References
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Diamond Services, a Hong Kong-based developer of tech systems for detecting lab-grown, imitation and treated diamonds, has created a new device aimed at amplifying the range of detectable merchandise to include all rough and polished stones in the lower yellowish-to-light-brown colour ranges.
According to the developer, this is the first device capable of identifying the yellowish gems together with the colourless to near-colourless range of diamonds. The way it works is that the system scans the rocks at the temperature of liquid nitrogen as opposed to examining them at room temperature.
Detection device. Photo by Diamond Services.
“To provide as accurate results as possible, we insist that all diamonds being tested to detect the possible presence of synthetically-produced goods be examined at temperatures in a liquid nitrogen atmosphere,” said Joseph Kuzi, Diamond Services' founder and president, in a media statement. “Since this can only be done reliably and safely in a proper laboratory setting, we have chosen not to sell the equipment we develop, but rather to use it exclusively as part of the service we provide the trade. The new DND system improves that offering, widening the range of goods that can be screened to include all goods at the lower end of the standard colour range.”
DND stands for Diamond Natural Device and, according to its manufacturer, the system is also capable of scanning loose diamonds and diamonds set in jewellery, in large quantities, and with no size limitations, in short periods of time.
The post Hong Kong firm develops tech to detect lab-grown yellow diamonds appeared first on MINING.com....
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Currently we can observe a general slowdown in the annual growth rate in price inflation across major countries around the world. For instance the yearly growth rate of the US consumer price index (CPI) fell to 1.5% in February from 1.6% in January and 2.2% in February last year. In Europe, the yearly growth rate of the EMU CPI stood at 1.5% in February versus 1.4% in January and 2.3% in October 2018.
The annual rate of China’s CPI has also eased in February falling to 1.5% from 1.7% in January and 2.9% in February the year before.The growth momentum of the UK CPI also displays softening with the yearly growth rate standing at 1.8% in February against 2.1% in the month before and 3% in January 2018.
Most commentators are of the view that deflation generates expectations for a decline in prices. As a result, it is held, consumers are likely to postpone their buying of goods at present since they expect to buy these goods at lower prices in the future. This weakens the overall flow of spending and in turn weakens the economy. Hence, such commentators believe that policies that counter deflation will also counter the economic slump.For many commentators and economic experts to counter a decline in the annual growth of the CPI, which they fear could develop into a general decline in prices; they advocate that central banks should maintain a very loose monetary stance. For these experts a possible decline in prices — which they label as deflation — poses a major threat to the economy....
It would appear that if deflation leads to an economic slump then policies that reverse deflation should be good for the economy. Reversing deflation will simply involve introducing policies that support general increases in the prices- Category: News Archives
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A Hong Kong-based developer of tech systems for detecting lab-grown, imitation and treated diamonds has created a new device aimed at amplifying the range of detectable merchandise to include all rough and polished stones in the lower yellowish-to-light-brown colour ranges.
According to developer Diamond Services, this is the first device capable of identifying the yellowish gems together with the colourless to near-colourless range of diamonds. The way it works is that the system scans the rocks at the temperature of liquid nitrogen as opposed to examining them at room temperature.
Detection device. Photo by Diamond Services.
“To provide as accurate results as possible, we insist that all diamonds being tested to detect the possible presence of synthetically-produced goods be examined at temperatures in a liquid nitrogen atmosphere,” said Joseph Kuzi, Diamond Services' founder and president, in a media statement. “Since this can only be done reliably and safely in a proper laboratory setting, we have chosen not to sell the equipment we develop, but rather to use it exclusively as part of the service we provide the trade. The new DND system improves that offering, widening the range of goods that can be screened to include all goods at the lower end of the standard colour range.”
DND stands for Diamond Natural Device and, according to its manufacturer, the system also capable of scanning loose diamonds and diamonds set in jewellery, in large quantities, and with no size limitations, in short periods of time.
The post Hong Kong firm develops technique to detect rough and polished lab-grown yellow diamonds appeared first on MINING.com....