Diamond News Archives

Sebastiao Pedro struck it lucky in 2014 when, as a 21-year-old small-scale miner, he found a large red ruby in northern Mozambique. He sold it to a buyer from Vietnam for $43,000, returned to his family 900 miles away and built a house with the proceeds.

Then the money ran out.

This year he went back to Montepuez, home to the world’s biggest known ruby deposit, hoping to find another small fortune. He was disappointed. A crackdown by the authorities has seen thousands of local diggers and traders arrested. Hundreds of others from as far away as Thailand have been deported.

“The situation is difficult because the police have been sending people away and the concession areas are full of company security and we can no longer work,” Pedro said as he and five fellow diggers in dust-stained clothes scratched around in the gravel beside a small dam.

A few hundred yards away is Gemfields Group Ltd.’s ruby operation. After a woodcutter discovered a shiny red stone there in 2009, as many as 10,000 people from all over the world descended on the dense woodland, digging and trading rubies, or offering goods and services to those doing the mining.

“It looked like a gold rush in the Wild West,” said Gemfields Chief Executive Officer Sean Gilbertson, son of Brian, the one-time CEO of the world biggest miner BHP Billiton Plc. “There was a lot of violence, a lot of criminality.”

‘Traffic Light’

Four years ago, Pedro would sneak into mining concessions and dig up gravel containing the precious stones. Now it’s too dangerous, so he and his colleagues wait for other informal miners who are able to get into the mining areas to bring back sacks of dirt — waste that’s...

Venezuelans are suffering horribly from government induced inflation. President Maduro’s central “planning” model has been a disaster of epic proportions.  According to Steve Hanke at Johns Hopkins University, Venezuelan annual inflation has hit a staggering 45,668%.

Both the Venezuela sovereign yield curve and Petroleos de Venezuela 5Y CDS curves are saying the same thing:  “Goodnight Irene.”^[1]  Or Goodnight Venezuela.

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References

1. ^{^} “Goodnight Irene.” (www.youtube.com)

(IDEX Online) – The Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in Mumbai said preparations are progressing according to schedule for plans to open registration for the second edition of the Bharat Diamond Week at the bourse. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The Bharat Diamond Week will take place from October 8-10, following the success of the first edition held from April 23-25 where in excess of 1,000 visitors from India and across the world did business with 150 Indian exhibitors of polished goods.

Bharat Diamond Bourse Vice-President Mehul Shah, who heads the Bharat Diamond Week project, said: “We learned many lessons from the first show earlier this year and we are working on implementing them in order to ensure that the next Diamond Week is even more successful. We want to create business for our many small and medium-size members – these are the companies that benefit from this type of inter-bourse fair. They need assistance due to the intense global competition in order to stand out from the crowd and show what they can offer by bringing them together with potential clients.”

BDB President Anoop Mehta said: "It is critical that we again provide a seamless registration process. Interested parties want to be able to register quickly, with the minimum fuss and in complete security. We are working to ensure that this is exactly what will happen.

"Beyond that, we are already planning for the show itself in terms of expanding it within the space that we have available to provide room for as many Indian exhibitors as possible. Our aim is quite simply to encourage as much business as...

Here at GoldSilver we’re not huge fans of commercial banks. Deceptive practices, outrageous fees, viewing customers as prey instead of partners.

But they do control enormous amounts of capital, so keeping an eye on where they stand vis a vis the gold price is worth monitoring.

So, presented here without further commentary, is a sampling of current institutional views on gold:

Goldman Sachs

“Goldman Sachs says it is bullish on gold^[1] for the first time in five years, as signs of an uptick in inflation and the ‘increased risk’ of a stock market correction should support prices for bullion.

"Our commodities team believes that the dislocation between the gold prices and U.S. rates is here to say," Goldman Sachs says.

JPMorgan Chase

“Not surprised if gold surpasses the $1,700/oz target^[2] set for next year. Bullishness is related to the fact that US' expansionary phase is in the late cycle. Gold has historically rallied even after business cycle starts to turn.

And also rallied even if the US economy starts to fall into recession. Dollar strength is temporary. At some point, we'll see a catch-up recovery in Europe and Japan. The dollar will start moderating and a weakening dollar will support metal prices.”

Credit Suisse

"Analysts said their bullish gold view for $1,400 gold^[3] by the fourth quarter is based on expectations that U.S. real rates will surprise to the downside, U.S. dollar strength will wane, a dovish central-bank approach to future monetary policy, continued robust Chinese investment demand, and an elevated probability of a disruptive geopolitical event."

Deutsche Bank

“Let us be...