Clifford Elphick, CEO of GEM Diamonds said in an announcement on Thursday (March 16) that market volatility caused by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia contributed to a decline in diamond prices. GEM achieved an average selling price of $1,755 per carat compared to $1,835 per carat in 2021. Though he remains overall optimistic regarding the mine’s capacity to rebound during the 2023 fiscal year.

They reported a 31% decline in attributable profit for the 12 months ended December 12 of $10.2m compared to $14.8m in the previous financial year.

De Beers’ Snap Lake diamond mine, Canada's first fully underground mine located in the Northwest Territory, is “entering the final stages of active closure” ahead of a switch to long-term monitoring. This will represent the final stages of shut down since it was decided by the company to cease operations in 2015.

Debswana and Chinese tech giant Huawei at the Mobile World Congress Trade Show this week announced plans for the unveiling of "the world's first 5G-oriented smart diamond mine project".
The 5G network allows cutting-edge technologies like autonomous driving and enables more intelligent digital transformation of the mining industry in the years to come.

Homestead Diamonds has recovered a rare 13-carat pink diamond from its bulk sampling operation on the Samada kimberlite pipe in the Free state province of South Africa. The 13.33-carat Pink is a Type IIa diamond and is one of several exceptional fancy colour stones recovered since the commencement of the bulk sampling programme in 2020.

Rio Tinto has made $40 million investment in the first phase of underground mining below the existing A21 open pit at its Diavik Diamond Mine which started commercial production in 2018 in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Diavik mine, Canada’s largest mine produces on the order of 6.5 million carats (+/-) of rough diamonds per year and has unearthed more than 100 million carats since its opening.

Lucara Diamond has published an updated report on the progress of its underground expansion project at Karowe diamond mine in Botswana.

The expansion will extend the life of the mine to at least 2040 and contribute $4 billion in additional revenues. Mine ramp up is expected in 2026 with full production from underground to be reached in the second half of that year.

[A DIAMOND LOUPE EXCLUSIVE STORY] - It was only just last September that Canadian mining company Arctic Canadian (AC) announced the recovery of a yellow diamond weighing an impressive 71.26 carats. The rough octahedron gem is currently the largest known fancy vivid yellow diamond ever discovered in Canada.

According to Reuters, Petra Diamonds invited merger and acquisition proposals on Monday, with CEO Richard Duffy saying the industry would benefit from consolidation.

"We have got opportunities to grow organically but given that we are through this restructuring and we have a much more robust balance sheet, we would be willing to consider consolidation if it makes value sense," Duffy told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

Mountain Province Diamonds has announced production and sales results for Q4 and 2022 from the Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine.

According to Rough & Polished, during Q4, 1,621,800 carats were recovered. For the full year 2022, 5.52 million carats were recovered (less than the guidance of 5.60 – 5.80 million carats). In 2022, approximately 2.7 million carats were sold at an average value of $112 per carat for total proceeds of $297.3 million. This compared to 3.2 million carats sold at an average value of US $75 per carat for total proceeds of US$236.9 million in FY 2021.

Rio Tinto, which owns 100% of the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories in Canada, has lowered Diavik’s 2023 production forecast – from 4.5 to 5 million carats to 3 to 3.8 million carats.
According to IDEX Online, Rio Tinto “gave no explanation for the lower forecast in its fourth quarter production results.” In 2022, actual production was on target – 4.7 million carats.
The Diavik diamond mine opened in 2003 and is scheduled to close in 2025.

Source: IDEX | Israeli Diamond
Photo Credit: Rio Tinto

The Bank of Tanzania announced that the country’s diamond exports increased significantly to $63.1 million (USD) in value by November 2022. This is more than seven times of the $8.4 million export value that was recorded in the year-over year analysis since November 2021.

Lucapa Diamond Company Limited together with their Project Lulo partners, Endiama and Rosas & Petalas, have recovered a total of 41 diamonds weighing 66.05 carats in a recent kimberlite sample.

The sample also includes two special sized diamonds weighing 15.27 and 12.37 carats, with 12 diamonds greater than one carat recovered totaling of 50.21 carats.

Sarine Technologies has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Delgatto Diamond Finance Fund (DDFF) that will enable DDFF to “significantly” increase the amount of capital it provides to the rough sector, as well as expand the types of structures it offers enable more efficient rough diamond financing, starting from January 15th.

BlueRock Diamonds says it has finally gotten through the last of the problems that cut its processing production by over 30% caused by unseasonable rains that flooded the country last
April and again in October through November. In an update posted by London-based miner the company confirmed it was now back to normal production levels, even during a particularly rainy fourth quarter.

Botswana Diamonds (BOD), the UK-based explorer, says it is seeking joint venture opportunities to seek out new assets in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the new year.
Speaking of Zimbabwe, John Teeling, chairman of BOD, said in a trading update: “There are significant geological opportunities in the country. The objective is to find a formula, which suits all parties.”

The Hearne kimberlite is one of four kimberlites being mined at Gahcho Kué Mine, which is presently ranked as 4th in the world by annual diamond production. Mountain Province is a 49% shareholder at Gahcho Kué with joint venture partner De Beers Canada as operators.

Petra announces the results of Tender 3 of FY 2023, at which 305,366 carats were sold for a total of US$42.3 million across Petra’s mining operations.
“Petra’s third tender for FY 2023 saw a 2.2% increase in like-for-like prices on Tender 2 FY 2023, reversing the downward trend observed in the previous two tenders. Although it is still too early to speculate on whether rough diamond prices have bottomed out, we are very satisfied with the overall result, “said Richard Duffy, CEO of Petra. 

Diamond miners in Zimbabwe are now required to pay half their royalties to the government in rough stones, 40 per cent in local currency and 10 per cent in foreign currency. The annual earnings of the mining sector have nearly doubled from US$2.7 billion in 2017 to US$5.73 billion in 2021. Projections by the Ministry of Finance show that mining earnings will reach US$7.3 billion by the end of the year, achieving 60.8% of the US$12 billion target for 2023.

Declaring a slight -0.09% loss on the GBX in 2022, Botswana Diamonds (BD) remains optimistic regarding their latest strategy of acquiring existing lots from former mining exploitations. This year alone the company has increased its stake to 50% in the Maibwe joint venture by acquiring a stake from the liquidator of BCL in Botswana,  and then landed an acquisition deal of the KX36 discovery from Sekaka Diamonds (a subsidiary of Petra Diamonds) which contains substantial quantities of diamonds.

Mountain Province Diamonds has found new kimberlite on the claims and leases surrounding the existing Gaucho Kué mining operation in the Northwest Territories. The new KE kimberlite “is a distinct occurrence that is located about 450metres east of the Kelvin kimberlite,” the Toronto-based miner said on Wednesday. Further drilling of the KE kimberlite is planned for the 2023 exploration program, Mountain Province said. The mine is slated to operate until 2028.
Gahcho Kué is a joint venture between Mountain Province holding a 49% stake and De Beers Group, which owns 51%.

Lucara Diamond has concluded and extension on their diamond sales agreement with Lucara Botswana, and HB Antwerp Antwerp Trading, with the intent of selling +10.8 carat rough diamonds produced from Lucara’s Karowe mine through December 31, 2032. The general terms of the deal are as follows: Lucara’s +10.8 carat production is sold at prices based on the estimated polished outcome of each diamond, determined through state-of-the-art scanning and planning technology, with a true up paid on actual achieved polished sales thereafter, less a fee and the cost of manufacturing.

In recent years, the Kao Mine in Lesotho has established itself as a leading producer of exceptional pink diamonds. Over the last few years, some remarkable stones have been recovered, including the Pink Storm, the Purple Princess and the Rose of Kao. The last discovery, the Pink Palesa a 21.86-carat Pink Palesa diamond, was sold in June of 2021 in Antwerp by Bonas Group.

Mid September Bruce Cleaver still attended FACETS 2022, the conference on Diamonds in The Age Of The Consumer in Antwerp, organized by the Antwerp World Dmaiamond Center (AWDC). Today he announced that he will be stepping down from his role of CEO of De Beers after 8 years of holding the post, opting for the role of co-chairman of the diamond behemoth.  He joined De Beers group in 2005 and became CEO in 2016.

The Financial Times reports that the Angolan Government has blocked and taken over the 18% stake of the Chinese company LLI (part of Sonangol) in Catoca. The Government now holds 59% of shares in Angola’s largest mine through IGAPE, the state body managing govt shareholding in companies active in the country. The move is considered another step in President Lourenço’s reform policy, reducing the interdependence with China that was established under the Dos Santos regime, when deals between Angola and China, especially in the oil business, were booming.

During a kickoff meeting that took place in Kananga, in the DRC’s Kasai region last week, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), together with the DRC’s Ministry of Mining and its subdivisions SAEMAPE and CEEC, NGO DDI@RESOLVE and tech company Everledger initiated OrigemA, a pilot project that aims to set up a fully transparent, digitally enabled mine-to-market program for Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) cooperatives in the DRC.

Australia-based Lucapa acquired the Merlin Diamond Project in the Northern Territory, Australia in 2021. The miner is currently progressing the Merlin Feasibility Study and assessing different mining methods for the kimberlite pipes including vertical pit mining (VPM), illustrated in this animation.

Iconic diamond miner De Beers this week now officially returns to Angola, as the Anglo American diamond mining division signed two mineral investment deals with the State's mining entity Endiama, giving the miner exploration rights for 35 years in the Northeast of the country. Each exploration concession will have a separate joint venture, with the majority of shares held by De Beers, with an option for Endiama to increase it's share.

Mountain Province, holding a 49% stake in the Canadian Gahcho Kué mine, reports its latest Antwerp sales, with proceeds amounting to US$41.4m for 322,547ct, achieved a record ROM price of US$126/ct, up another 13% compared to the first sale of the year.

The company also announces a supply agreement with Chow Tai Fook, multinational jewelry retailer with presence in China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and the US, providing the retailer with a select range of diamonds over a one-year, renewable term.

Vast Resources PLC, the London-listed Mining and Resource Development company that partnered last summer with Botswana Diamonds in a joint venture (Okwa Diamonds) aiming to buy Gem Diamonds' mothballed Ghaghoo mine in Botswana for US$4m, has announced it is pulling out of the deal, without further comment.

Rough & Polished reports, based on a local TV interview with CEO Sergei Ivanov, that the company is optimistic about restoration of the Mir diamond mine, and is in the final stage of a feasibility study which will determine the course of action, to be decided by a review committee in H1 of 2022.