According to recently released Kimberley Process statistics, in 2023, Russia became the largest producer of rough diamonds in terms of value, jumping over Botswana, despite sanctions on Russian diamonds by the G7. Total value of Russian rough production amounted to US$3.61bn, for a volume of 37.3m ct, compared to Botswana's total production value of US$3.28bn, for a total of 25.1m ct. 

Photo credit: Envato Elements

Petra Diamonds, the diamond mining company with mines in South Africa and Tanzania, has signed a long-term power purchasing agreement with Etana Energy, South African energy supplier, to provide its South African operations at Cullinan and Finsch with renewable energy from Etana's existing and future wind and solar projects. Etana will supply between 36% and 72% of the estimated energy requirements starting from financial year 2026 onward, aimed at reducing Petra's GHG emissions well ahead of the 2030 target.

De Beers 4th sight cycle revenues totaled US$380m, a 21% drop from US$479m achieved in the 4th cycle of 2023 and -15% from sight n°3 this year, translating in a 17% decrease in revenues from sales (US$ 1.63bn this year vs US$1.97bn in 2023) year-to-date. The lower sales figures correspond with current market sentiment and add to the turbulence surrounding a potential sale of the diamond entity of Anglo American. 

Photo credit: Anglo American Plc

Lucapa, the Australian listed miner with operations in Angola (Lulo) and Lesotho (Mothae) is looking to divest its 70% stake in the Mothae mine after a review of its asset portfolio by the recently restructured Lucapa board of directors.

Lucara Diamond in its Q1 2024 release reports total revenues of US$41.1m, slightly down y-o-y from US$42.8m. A total of 93,560ct were sold through its different sales channels, including through the renewed 10-year sales agreement with HB for specials (10.8ct+ rough diamonds) produced, with so-called "top-up payments" resulting in US$4.9m of the total revenues. In total 160 "specials" (5.1% of total cts) were recoverd in Q1, 3 of which larger than 100ct and one larger than 300ct.

According to Interfax, quoting Russia's Ministry of Finance Moiseyev, Alrosa will have to sell its stake in Angola's Catoca operation, as pressure from the West on the Angolans mounts to cut ties with Russian, sanctioned entities. According to Moiseyev negotiations to take over Alrosa's share, which originally stood at 41% of the mining operation, are ongoing with "friendly investors".

The Financial Times reports on the developing story of the unsolicited bid of Australia-listed BHP on London-listed mining conglomerate Anglo American, which includes the diamond mining branch De Beers, naming potential suitors. BHP's bid was rejected earlier this week by Anglo's board but says it is safe to assume BHP might counter with an improved proposal, while other candidates may well offer a competing bid.

Lucapa, operating the Lulo mine in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho, reports Q1 results were down with revenues clocking at US$13.1m, down 28% y-o-y, and rough prices down 41%, from avg 1,350US$/ct to 798US$/ct. Lulo production focused on lower grade areas due to flooding, resulting in low grades in carats recovered, while Mothae production improved in terms of carats recovered but with a significantly lower frequency of exceptional, high value diamonds.

Petra Diamonds announced last week that Taifa Mining and Civils Limited, will be buying 50 per cent less one share of the Petra’s shareholding in Williamson Diamonds Limited (WDL). Tiafa Mining has been serving as the long-term technical services contractor at the Williamson Mine for over 20 years in coordination with Petra but have now stepped up their role as an equity stakeholder in the project.

Canadian mining company Diamcor announced that it will be proceeding with an extensive drilling and bulk sampling program over the greater portions of its Krone-Endora at Venetia diamond mine project.

Storm Mountain Diamonds announced yesterday the recovery of a rare fancy intense pink diamond weighing 108.39ct at its Kao mine in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The stone was discovered earlier this year on March 23rd, 2023.The exceptionally rare Type IIa gemstone is one of the largest pink diamonds in history to have been recovered.

Mountain Province Diamonds, a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kué diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories made their Q1 Reports for the spring season of 2023.

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

Barton Gold has announced that they have just completed a diamond drilling program at the Tunkillia project in South Australia. The company had announced its plans to diversify it’s mining activities last September in a press release stating that “as the footprint of this project grows with each program, we are increasingly excited about the scale potential of this system.”

The 2200-meter program targeted depth extensions of the 223 deposit and the Area 51 zone of an established gold mine, however this time prospecting for diamonds.

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.