Diamond News Archives
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(IDEX Online) - Fifteen workers have died so far this year and more have been injured in accidents mining for gold and other precious metals in Zimbabwe, says a union boss.
Justice Chinhema, general secretary of Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) says many mines are increasingly unsafe.
Ten fatalities were at small scale mines, he said. Five were at larger operations.
"We are worried that most mines are not safe, many abandoned mines have been heavily panned by artisanal miners and we have seen the weakening and ultimate destruction of pillars," he told the New Zimbabwe website.
He called for better regulation of small-scale and artisanal mines, in the hope that it would cut the accident toll....
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(IDEX Online) - Customs officials in Surat, India, seized two consignments of loose "lab grown" diamonds that were over the declared weight - and were actually higher-value natural gems.
They were being sent from the tax-free Surat Special Economic Zone and were destined for Hong Kong, via Mumbai airport.
The owner of Universal Diamonds, Meet Kachhadiya, wrongly declared the diamonds, said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Customs and Central Excise after confiscating the stones on Sunday.
The total value of the gems is at least $2.7m, they say.
One consignment was declared as 12,000 carats but actually weighed 26,000 carats. Another, declared as 20,000 carats, was actually 27,000 carats, according to The Indian Express newspaper.
Sources tell the paper that Universal Diamonds was established in February 2021 and had sent 25 consignments of diamonds to Hong Kong.
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(IDEX Online) - Diamonds seized from illegal miners in Lesotho are to be sold to licensed dealers by the country's mining ministry.
Small-scale diamond mining was outlawed in 2004 because of safety concerns and a lack of regulation, although there are reports that the government is now about to permit the resumption of limited artisanal operations.
Bids are being invited during a two-day tender for gems confiscated over the years, according to SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation).
The government introduced an amnesty last year aimed at removing illegally-mined rough diamonds from the black market. Gems handed in will be sold at auction.
Large-scale mining in the landlocked African nation is dominated by Gem Diamonds' Letseng mine, which boasts the highest per carat diamonds in the world.
Pic for illustrative purposes...
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(IDEX Online) - A bride-to-be was reunited with her engagement ring, after a diver armed with just a snorkel and an underwater metal detector found it at the bottom of a lake.
The white gold and diamond ring slipped from her finger as she sat on a jetty on the shores of Windermere, the largest natural lake in England.
Volunteer Angus Hosking, a freediver who regularly clears litter from the lake, offered his services to the couple, and retrieved the custom-made gold and diamond ring within just 20 minutes.
The couple, referred to in news reports only by their first names, Vik and Rebecca, had been engaged for just two days when she lost the ring. The hotel where they were staying contacted Angus on their behalf.
He told BBC News: "Fortunately we had a rough idea of where it was. If it had been in the middle of the lake it wouldn't have been like a needle in a haystack, but a needle in the world."
Pic shows Angus with Vik and Rebecca and (inset) the ring. Courtesy Angus Hosking...
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