Diamond News Archives

De Beers and Vast Resources will be allowed to explore for diamonds in Zimbabwe, which would make them the first listed companies to mine there in that sector for two years, Mining Minister Winston Chitando said.

A spokesman for De Beers, an Anglo American unit, said in an email it was not mining in Zimbabwe and did not intend to. Vast Resources said it could not comment.

Zimbabwe has been working to rebuild investor confidence since long-term leader Robert Mugabe was ousted in late 2017.

This month its mining ministry said it would let in two new companies but did not name them.

On Wednesday, Chitando told Reuters De Beers and Vast Resources would be allowed to mine, but could not comment on any changes to ownership rules. "Those are the details that have to be thrashed out," he said."Those are the details that have to be thrashed out."

Vast Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with Botswana Diamonds in May to form a special purpose vehicle majority-owned by Vast to develop resources in Zimbabwe.

In November, Chitando said Zimbabwe did not plan to change radically its ownership laws for platinum and diamonds.

Few miners doubt the potential of Zimbabwe's mineral resources and it is among the world's leading diamond-producing countries. But some investors are concerned about how much money companies can take out because of dollar shortages.

Mugabe accused De Beers of looting the largest diamond fields in Marange in eastern Zimbabwe, where production is dominated by state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company. De Beers denied the charge.

Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company is one of two firms currently allowed to mine diamonds there. The other, Murowa Diamonds, majority-owned by Rio Tinto until June 2015, is the only private...

(IDEX Online) – Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) held a rough diamond tender from the November 26 to December 4 at the Dubai Diamond Exchange in the Almas Tower, Dubai., selling 97,841 carats for $46.4 million. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The company reported that two regular productions of high quality and high color material from South Africa and Angola were offered for sale, as well as several significant special stones. The tender was the final, and largest, event of this year, with goods sold reaching an average per carat price of $474.40.

TAGS said that 168 companies attended the auction, with many new registrations from customers in all the major diamond centers, several of whom had winning bids.

"With the commencement of regular direct flights between Surat and Sharjah [UAE]  in the next few weeks, we anticipate reaching a further range of small specialist manufacturers to attend our events in 2019," the firm said. "TAGS has experienced a steady growth in volumes in both its regular productions from South Africa and Angola.

"Through 2019, we anticipate a sustained supply of the productions, which will provide our customers with a regular and meaningful volume of high quality rough, to form an important component of manufacturers monthly production programs. 

"Our customer base continues to grow with TAGS experiencing a record number of viewing appointment requests and company registrations which resulted in a decision by TAGS to extend the tender and the final bidding deadline by a day in order to accommodate the high level of interest."...

2018-12-12 3pm EDT  |  #US dollar #Santiago Capital #Brent Johnson #stocks

Think back to this past summer. The US dollar was rallying hard, having risen from 88 DXY in the spring to 97 as August drew to a close. At the same time, the American stock market was on fire, tacking on 400 S&P points in less than half a year. This was happening while the rest of the world’s stock markets were sucking wind. Europe was down a handful of percentage points, the MSCI world index ex-US was down a similar amount and emerging markets were being beaten like Marvin Nash at the hands of Mr. Blonde^[1]. In the period when the S&P had risen almost 10 percent, emerging markets were pushing down 15%. When you combine the meteoric US stock market rise along with the USD appreciation, the relative outperformance of US equities for overseas investors was stunning.

I understand all the reasons for the move. America was the only major country engaging in fiscal stimulus. They were also cutting taxes and engaging in pro-business deregulation. These policies allowed the U.S. Central Bank to pursue a tighter-than-would-otherwise-be-the-case monetary policy.

All of these circumstances combined to create a virtuous self-reinforcing feedback loop. As foreigners chased U.S. stocks, it put a bid to the U.S. dollar and also loosened financial conditions which caused the Federal Reserve to tighten policy which caused the U.S. dollar to rise even more and encouraged foreigners to buy even more stocks. It became reflexive^[2].

Wall Street always does this. They take a good idea, and they push it too far. The US-will-eat-the-world financial theory made a lot of sense… at first.

I am about to embark on a reason...

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