Diamond News Archives

Shares in Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) climbed almost 16% on Thursday after it revealed that Vast Resource (LON:VAST), with which it has signed a memorandum of understanding to develop diamond resources in Zimbabwe, had been awarded exclusive access to a diamond concession in the African nation's Marange Fields area.

Vast Resource is expected to carry out an initial assessment of the asset with a view to concluding a joint venture agreement, the principal terms of which have been agreed, for exploration, mining and marketing.

The 15 square kilometre Heritage Concession is close to an area of Vast's historic Marange Diamond Fields claim and is believed to be an extension of the same geological system.

Botswana Diamonds surged almost 16% to 1.2 p by 9:45 am after the news, while Vast Resources shares closed up 5.7%.

In 2008, Vast acquired a database relating to diamonds in Zimbabwe and had, until 2010, carried out its own exploration in the field using information from the database.

The post Botswana Diamonds partner granted exclusive access to concession in Zimbabwe appeared first on MINING.com....

Recently my friend Ben Hunt^[1] pointed out that gold is really more a hedge against a central bank mistake^[2] than a hedge against geopolitical upheaval. I agree but I believe gold is an effective hedge against a fiscal mistake, as well. In other words, when the government gets very aggressive in a budgetary sense it can be positive for gold. And I guess these two points are related.

Many times a central bank mistake forces the fiscal authorities to step in and get aggressive with the budget. Just think of the financial crisis. The Fed engineered a real estate bubble that, when it burst, forced the Treasury to step in and backstop the financial system to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. The federal government was also forced to implement significant fiscal stimulus during the recession that followed. This led to a record budget deficit of over a trillion^[3] dollars and the gold price soared.

Whether gold soared at that time due to the central bank mistake or to the fiscal authorities response is certainly debatable. That gold initially declined into the crisis and then soared alongside the federal deficit until well after the crisis had been apparently averted, though, is a fact.

Since then the budget deficit has narrowed and gold prices have fallen. However, the CBO estimates that, as a result of the recent tax cuts, the deficit will again surpass a trillion dollars by 2020. In this case, we have the fiscal authorities getting aggressive outside of recession or a central bank mistake. In my view, this provides a positive backdrop for gold prices all by itself.

Furthermore, if we get a recession over the next few years, (perhaps precipitated by a...

(IDEX Online) – Buyer registration has opened for the seventh Israel Diamond Week in New York, to be held October 15-17. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The annual event, jointly organized by the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) and the Diamond Dealers Club of New York (DDC), is inviting bourse members, jewelers and other buyers from the New York metropolitan area and around the United States to take part in the diamond trading platform.

The event will be held on the DDC’s new trading floor in the International Gem Tower in Manhattan, which was inaugurated this year. Dozens of IDE and DDC member companies will offer a wide selection of goods at a variety of price points. The organizers expect that several hundred diamond buyers, jewelry manufacturers and retailers will attend the event.

IDE President Yoram Dvash said, “We are thrilled to once again hold the Israel Diamond Week in conjunction with the DDC. The annual show has become a very important event on the US-Israel diamond calendar. This year the timing is great, offering buyers a perfect opportunity to fill their diamond needs right before the busy holiday season.

“After the holidays we invite buyers to restock their diamond needs at our annual International Diamond Week in Israel, which this year will be held January 28-30, 2019,” he added.

Registration for the Israel Diamond Week in New York is free for bourse members and approved members of the trade. ...

Gold output in key producing countries, such as Australia and Peru, is set to slump to generational lows in the mid-term even though bullion production grew for nine consecutive years, reaching an all-time high in 2017, a new report shows.

While S&P Global Market Intelligence does expect output to rise reach new highs this year, to 108 million ounces, as well as in 2019 and 2020, it doesn’t see growth across the board.

“In the case of Australia, despite production being on track to hit a 26-year high of 10.2 Moz in 2019, we estimate that Australian gold production will start to decline thereafter,” says S&P analyst Chris Galbraith.

In its the Gold Pipeline report, S&P forecasts a 9% fall in gold production for Australia in 2020 and expects the country's production to reach a generational low of 6.8 million ounces by 2022. That is a 33% drop in only three years.

Peruvian production is also expected to decline the most by 2022 — by 1.9 million ounces to be exact. This, as no new gold mines have begun production in the country since the start of 2017, and only one project seems likely to go online in the next five years: Southern Copper's Los Chancas, slated to begin operations in 2022

Canada, however, is highlighted as one of the few countries where gold output will continue to increase by potentially 62% above 2017 production.

West Africa is also forecast to experience growth with gold output in the region — including Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mauritania — rising 16%, which will make it the world's second-largest gold...