Diamond News Archives
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Oil prices could rally to $100 a barrel next year, a level not seen since 2014, as supply risks in Venezuela and Iran strain global markets, according to Bank of America Corp.[1]
Brent futures, trading near $77 on Thursday, are set to reach $90 in the second quarter of 2019 as world inventories shrink, the bank said. As that view hinges on OPEC reviving output and a limited impact on Iran from U.S. sanctions, prices could go even higher, it said, becoming the first Wall Street bank to suggest a return to $100.
Crude has climbed to a three-year high as President Donald Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran threatens to tighten a market already depleted by strong demand, OPEC production cuts and unplanned supply losses in troubled producer Venezuela.
“Looking into the next 18 months, we expect global oil supply and demand balances to tighten,” Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, said in a report.
While other Wall Street banks have bullish outlooks on crude, theirs aren’t quite as strong as that of Bank of America.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts that Brent will rise to $82.50 a barrel in the coming months, and says there’s a chance prices could surpass that level, but sees oil subsiding again in 2019....
References
- ^ Company Overview (www.bloomberg.com)
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Anglo American’s De Beers said Thursday it had successfully tracked its first diamonds all the way from its mines to jewellery retailers using blockchain technology, in an effort to clear up the supply chain form synthetics and conflict stones.
The world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, which began developing the tracking platform last year, said it was able to follow 100 high-value stones through the cutting, polishing and manufacturing process to a final retailer, as part of a pilot program announced in January.
Five diamond manufacturers — Diacore, Diarough, KGK Group, Rosy Blue NV and Venus Jewel — helped De Beers develop the technology called Tracr, the company said, adding it plans to roll it out and make it available to whole diamond industry later this year.
Tracr gives each diamond a unique ID that stores stones characteristics such as weight, colour and clarity.
The blockchain platform is basically a shared database of transactions maintained by a network of computers on the Internet, a technology currently being employed in the bitcoin sector.
Tracr gives each diamond a unique ID that stores stones characteristics such as weight, colour and clarity. To support the process, the system will also be using stone photos and planned outcome images.
“When fully operational, Tracr will provide consumers with confidence that registered diamonds are natural and conflict-free, improve visibility and trust within the industry, and enhance efficiencies across the diamond value chain,” the company said.
The technology allows De Beers to show transactions to all participants, while keeping their identities and the values hidden. It is meant to give buyers confidence that the diamonds they are acquiring aren’t fakes or coming from conflict zones (A.K.A....
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Where is the inflation that former Fed Chair Janet Yellen said was “just around the corner”?
The consumer price indices for April are out and they should a small increase in core CPI (ex food and energy) YoY
After a couple of months of rising consumer prices, there is a slight cooling.
The USD Inflation Swap Forward 5Y5Y is still around 2.48%.
Real weekly and hourly earnings YoY fell in April.
Where is the inflation that The Fed has been predicting?
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(IDEX Online) – The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) have announced that as a result of the weak response to registration for the 38th World Diamond Congress due to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, from June 19 to 21, they have reached a decision to postpone the Congress. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>
The Congress, the biennial gathering of the WFDB and IDMA, was "no doubt also influenced by the rising tension in the region," the industry groups said in a statement.
WFDB President Ernie Blom and IDMA President Ronnie VanderLinden said: "It is obviously with very great regret that we have reached the decision to cancel the Congress. We had a full agenda of issues regarding the state of the global diamond industry and preparations were in full swing.
"However, we have to take all factors into account, and felt it was the correct decision to make which is in the best interests of all concerned. The Congress will be held at a later date which will be determined in the near future.
The Congress was being organized by the Israel Diamond Exchange, and was due to feature a section on how technology can aid the diamond industry, among other matters....
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Information made public by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation states that management at Dominion Diamond Mines is worried about the profitability of its Ekati mine, located in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories, approximately 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife.
The CBC quotes an official who said that, given such concerns, construction of a new open pit at the mine has been delayed until further notice.
The so-called Jay pipe should have been built by the end of 2018, which is already a year later than previously planned. Its original timeline showed it starting production in 2021 so that the mine’s life could be extended up to 2033. A couple of years ago, it was said that without the expansion, Ekati would run out of its existing reserves by 2020.
Last year, road construction started at the site. The project also includes building a dyke, draining part of a lake and digging the open pit.
According to Dominion, Jay -which is located near the existing Misery pit- is the most significant undeveloped deposit at Ekati due to its large size and high grade.
The post Expansion of Canada’s first surface and underground diamond mine delayed appeared first on MINING.com....