Exports have been declining steadily since April, when the country exported $255.7 million worth of diamonds.

Year to date exports increased 45 percent compared to the first seven months of 2009, mostly due to large exports in the first quarter of the year - $760.6 million.

Source: www.idexonline.com

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Of the estimated 3500-odd diamond cutting and polishing units in the city, only 250 are registered under the Factory Act, often leading to denial of employee benefits to workers in the industry that employs over five lakh people. Some big units employ as many as 5,000 workers.

While industry experts believe over 3500 factories are scattered in Katargam, Puna gam, Kapodara, Varachha and Mahidharpura areas of Surat, there has been no official survey to date to arrive at an exact figure.

A few years ago, when a task force formed by RBI came to Surat to find out the actual position of the diamond workers in the recession-hit industry, it was shocked to discover that a majority of the units were not registered.

At that time, Labour Commissioner Vatsala Vasudeva had ordered a survey to find out as to how many diamond units were registered under the Factory Act and also the total number of units existing in the city. The survey was carried out for a few days but was stopped as officials said they did not have adequate staff.

Additional director of Industrial Safety and Health Laxman Dhingre said, “Due to staff shortage, we could not visit each factory and get them registered. We are now waiting for more staff. Two years ago, a survey was carried out but was stopped due to some unknown reasons.”

Surat Diamond Association president Dinesh Nawadia said, “The reason behind not registering factories under the Factory Act could be that the owners do not want to bear the additional burden of giving Provident Fund and ESI facilities to workers. Even now, it is difficult to register all units as many of them run out of small buildings.”

Source: www.indianexpress.com

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“We are cautious about the export growth in the coming months due to weak global recovery. We expect 15 per cent export growth in 2010-11 year-on-year,” Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) chairman Basant Mehta said.

In the first four months of 2010-11, exports of the precious items grew by 63.4 per cent to $11.4 billion year-on-year.

However, it was mainly attributed to a low base of comparison in the first four months of the fiscal 2009-10.

Mehta said that the recovery in the US and the European markets had come on the back of stimulus packages given by their governments.

With focus shifting to fiscal consolidation, the demand from these markets may slow down.

Gems and jewellery are among the largest contributor to India’s exports basket.

Of the total exports of $182 billion, the sector accounted for $28.41 billion in 2009-10.

While the recovery in the Western markets look fragile, exporters are finding demand from China and the Middle East.

However, the overall outlook remains that of cautious optimism, Mehta said.

Expansion of gems and jewellery exports which had peaked by 74.2 per cent in June on a low annual basis of comparison, saw a lesser pace of 40 per cent in July.

The UAE is the main destination for Indian gems and jewellery, accounting for 31 per cent of the total exports, followed by Hong Kong and the US.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

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The suit and the settlement agreement were challenged on a number of grounds, including the lack of common harm to all members of the class.
Now that the class action will be re-heard, all parties in the suit will have a second chance to argue the designation of the suit as a class action.

Should the appellants – the parties challenging the settlement – present persuasive arguments that the class was not correctly composed, the settlement agreement would not be valid.

While the case is being re-heard and until a ruling is handed down, none of the members of the action against the diamond supplier will receive any settlement money.

The re-hearing process is not bound to any timetable, and the Third Circuit Court’s decision could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Source: www.israelidiamond.co.il

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The second-largest mining company in the world, Rio Tinto, has decided to mine diamonds in India from its Bunder Diamond project at Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh. With an investment target of around $79 million, the owner of the fancy red and pink coloured diamonds hopes the project will substantially add to its kitty.
Madhya Pradesh is a major diamond producing state with estimated prospects of 1,200 thousand carats of diamond reserve.

“Rio Tinto has commenced production and bulk sampling at Mumbai diamond auctions,” MP Mining and Mineral Secretary S K Mishra told a posse of media persons recently. The mining major has been exploring for diamonds in India since 2001 and was given a prospecting license for the project in 2006, and has a mining lease on 475 hectares.
At the start of the year, the diamond major had notified the Indian government that it would pump in an estimated $532 million in the country. Incidentally, this is the first lease that the firm has bagged in India, despite its decade-old presence in the country.
It currently imports rough diamonds in India and then cuts and polishes the precious stone for sale in other countries.

According to Satya Prakash, additional chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh, a formal memorandum of understanding is to be inked with the state government in the next couple of days. The memorandum will help in the identification, exploration and production process. The company has also announced that it will gradually scale up investment in the country.

In a bid to aid the process, the state government has earmarked 280 acres near Indore, Madhya Pradesh’s leading commercial city, for a diamond park for value addition like cutting, polishing and jewellery. Anil Kumar Jain, managing director of the MP State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, said the state plans to develop the park and has invited corporates and industries interested in the diamond cutting business to set up base there.
Asked to comment on the investment, Kevin McLeish, COO of Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond Mines reportedly said that the Bunder mines were an important project for Rio Tinto. Managing director (global development) and chief financial officer of Rio Tinto, Alan Davies, told reporters recently that India was high on the company’s priority list. “We are ready to spend billions of dollars in its mining sector,” he reportedly said.
Rio Tinto is also in talks with several Indian companies, including the Ruias-promoted Essar Group as also the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), for joint mining of coal, iron ore and other mineral resources.

Rio Tinto owns Australia’s Argyle Mine, one of the world’s biggest diamond suppliers.
In India, Rio Tinto has reportedly spent over $60 million over the last four years, as part of its diamond exploratory mining work. Recently, the company launched an innovative marketing initiative titled `Nazraana’ to market its diamonds and to focus on the high-growth bridal collection.

“We are very confident in the growth prospects for diamond jewellery consumption in India. We are working with our Indian counterparts to develop a strong connection with the Indian retail community and deepen our understanding of this important element of the diamond supply chain,” Jean-Marc Lieberherr, Rio Tinto’s general manager said at a recent diamond symposium.

The Nazraana initiative follows research that shows an emerging demand for diamond accessories as an ideal gift for family and friends celebrating weddings in India. Officials added that Rio Tinto’s Argyle production is well suited to bridal accessories and that the company was eager to work with select diamantaires to ensure that Indian retailers are supplied with the necessary product and support materials to energise this new market segment.

Source: www.mineweb.com

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Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners are the only two mining firms extracting the gemstones in the Marange diamonds fields, occupying 10 percent of the total area.

“With the new diamond find in Chiadzwa (Marange), we are estimating 40 million carats per year and US$2 billion per year in revenue,” Mr Filip van Loere told media this week. Mr van Loere is advising the Government on ensuring compliance with the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme. The country was granted permission to sale its diamonds last month following the approval by the KP.

“Zimbabwe has been propelled to the number one spot as the world’s most important player and it will be number three in value. That is estimated to come along within the next two to three years,” said Van Loere.

He said Zimbabwe could surpass top diamond producers like Russia, Botswana and South Africa, but noted a sudden increase global diamond output could force prices down.

“The main issue for Zimbabwe is to be careful in harvesting this resource. Zimbabwe might add 20 percent to global trade, but then prices will go down at least 60-70 percent, so we have to be responsible, Zimbabwe should not become the main producer just for the sake of it,” van Loere said.

He also suggested that it was crucial that the country established two more well-equipped diamond mining companies to boost production. Mr Van Laere, however cautioned against irresponsible extraction of the gems to avoid flooding the market, which would lower prices. He said with the establishment of the Zimbabwe Trade Diamond Centre, the country would fully benefit from the resources.

Canadile Miners chairman Cougan Matanhire said the ZTDC would be Zimbabwe’s central diamond district capturing all rough diamonds and polishing them. “This is a concept to ensure that there is benefit for Zimbabweans from their diamonds,” he said, adding the centre would create in excess of 7 000 jobs.

The centre, expected to be complete in March next year, will house the polishing centre, auction house and a training college. Mashonaland West governor Faber Chidarikire said the project would assist Zimbabwe bust economic sanctions imposed on the country by Western countries. “The ailing economy shall be revived through the proceeds making life easy for the Minister of Finance,” he said.

Formal mining operations in Marange began late last year following some months of illegal mining. Over 30 000 illegal miners descended on the Marange fields in 2006, prompting the Government to deploy security forces to stop rampant panning and smuggling.

It is estimated that Zimbabwe could have lost several millions of dollars in potential revenue before Government granted Mbada and Canadile mining rights.

Source: allafrica.com

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Aim-listed Firestone Diamonds on Thursday informed shareholders that Debswana, which is a joint venture (JV) between De Beers and the government of Botswana, had decided to delay the implementation of the MTTP to focus its resources on existing projects at the Orapa and Jwaneng diamond mines.

In June, Firestone announced that it had been selected by Debswana to finance, build and operate the MTTP.

The company noted that Debswana had assured it that the MTTP remained a strategically important project, which would be pursued when its other higher-priority projects were more advanced.

Construction of the project had been expected to start by the first half of 2011, subject to the conclusion of suitable financing for the required $55-million capital expenditure being arranged. Production had been scheduled to start in 2012.

The MTTP was key to Firestone’s strategy of developing toll treatment opportunities to supplement its own mining operations, including its BK11 mine.

The Jwaneng plant had been expected to serve as a pilot facility to demonstrate the economics and capability of the modular plant concept on the Jwaneng tailings resource, which, if successful could have been deployed to other Debswana mines.

The MTTP would have contributed up to $150-million in toll treatment revenues for Firestone.

Firestone CEO Philip Kenny noted that the delay in the MTTP was disappointing, but said that the company would focus its efforts on the Liqhobong kimberlite project, in Lesotho, which Firestone would acquire if its proposed acquisition of fellow Aim-listed Kopane Diamond Developments goes ahead.

Shareholders of both Kopane and Firestone would vote on the proposed takeover on Friday, with the deal to be finalised by the end of September.

Firestone would also continue to pursue other toll treatment opportunities.

In March, the company had been selected as the preferred candidate to build and operate a new dredge and a 11,5-million-ton a year floating treatment (FTP) plant for Namdeb, another De Beers subsidiary working in JV with the government of Namibia.

The FTP was expected to start production in 2012.

Source: www.miningweekly.com

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The DiaScribe SL is a new high performance and reduced cost system, Sarin said in a statement.

Source: www.idexonline.com

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Forem was elected president of the Israel Diamond Exchange in 1993 and served three terms until 1998, when he was elected president of the WFDB.

Born in Poland in 1938, Forem survived the Holocaust and immigrated to Israel in 1949. He served as a career IDF officer for many years, retiring at the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

In 1961, Forem began working for Union Bank, which has strong links to businesses in the Israel diamond sector and diamond trade. For 16 years, he served in a number of managerial positions, and in 1978 left the bank to pursue a career in the diamond industry.

In 1983, he became an independent diamantaire, and was elected to the IDE board of directors in 1987, where he chaired the Financial Committee, the Security Committee, and the General Affairs Committee. In addition, Forem served one term as vice president of the IDE.

WFDB and IDE President Avi Paz said that Forem was “a bridge builder, a kind and attentive man who would give his time to his fellow diamantaires, extend his help to solve both their problems and those of the diamond business at large.”

Paz called Forem a “public servant par excellence” and said that he would be sorely missed by members of the diamond business, whom he regarded as “extended family.”

“On behalf of the WFDB Executive Committee and the WFDB member bourses, we send heartfelt condolences to his family and countless friends,” Paz stated.

Source: www.israelidiamond.co.il

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“We take seriously the return to investors from projects and we have ensured such investors can repatriate profits so that a competitive environment to stimulate minerals exploration and exploitation ensues.

Gabaake said that Botswana would aim to issue prospecting licences within 60 days of application, mining licences within 30 days and to issue diamond export permits within two days.

He also said that the strategy included a switch to minerals beneficiation and downstream activities in Botswana, if feasible, and to encourage diversification. The government was also looking to sell all diamonds produced in Botswana, within Botswana.

Suppliers are also being encouraged to manufacture mining consumable such as reagents and equipment spares, at a local level.

“The turnaround strategy is working, with the latest Fraser Institute report ranking Botswana as the highest-ranking African country for attractiveness of mining policy,” Gabaake said.

“Such surveys have highlighted the access to road, power and skilled labour pools as areas of major concern needing addressing, and as a result, we are now running a budget deficit to bring on stream major projects as the Morupule colliery expansion and the 600-MW Morupule B power station to boost electricity supplies.

Gabaake said that the deficit also allowed for the construction of three dams to meet water demand and feasibility studies were under way on improving the rail networks, particularly as used for minerals projects.

Botswana saw its 2009 diamond production collapse to 17,7-million carats from 32,6-million carats in 2008, when the global financial crisis hit demand for gemstones.

“A significant improvement in diamond production is expected by the end of 2010, as markets are now recovering,” Gabaake said.

Botswana’s 2009 diamond output accounted for 14% of world diamond output, commanding 17% of the total world diamond production value of $8,6-billion.

Gabaaka noted that the impact of the downturn was felt at employment levels, with average job levels in Botswana’s mining sector falling to 15 359 last year, 18% lower than the sector’s 18 820 jobs capacity in 2008.

Source: www.miningweekly.com

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