The eight winners of a prestigious platinum jewellery competition have now been confirmed, along with details of their pieces. An 11-strong panel of experts assessed drawings presented to them in April to determine who should land the honours for this year’s Lonmin Design Innovation Awards. The assessment was split into two categories, namely ‘Emerging Designers’, for those with less than five years’ commercial experience, and ‘Established Designers’, for those with more than five years’ involvement in the industry.

In the former group, the winners were James Powell of TCJ Designs, Miranda Wallis of Mirranna, Luke Rose of Luke Rose Jewellery and Dot the Jewellers’ John Bradley.

> continue reading "Prestigious platinum jewellery competition winners announced 1st September 2010"

Unhealthy competition at home

Nguyen Van Dung at My Linh Ngan Jewellery Company says many gold companies are prone to cheat on the purity of their products. They pass off goods with only 51 or 68 percent gold content as 18 carat.

> continue reading "Gold jewellery companies would welcome more State supervision"

The Rio Tinto diamond company plans to invest some $79 million in diamond exploration and production in India’s Madhya Pradesh region, with a focus on Chhatarpur’s Bunder mines, Steelguru.com reported.

According to Additional Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Satya Prakash, a formal memorandum of understanding between Rio Tinto and the state government was expected to be drawn up and in effect by October 2010.

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that some of the region’s rich mineral resources now belonged to Chhattisgarh state, but noted that there were still investment opportunities for the diamond industry, as well as bauxite, aluminium, limestone, and coal mining.

> continue reading "Rio Tinto to Invest $79M in Diamond Exploration in Madhya Pradesh"

The volume of India’s rough diamond imports tapered off compared to last year, declining from 14.8 million carats imported in July 2009 to 13.4 million carats imported this past July. The total value of imports, however, increased 7.4 percent to $942.3 million, according to provisional data figures released by the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

The shift in value and volume shows the changes in the price of rough diamonds over the past year. Rough imported into the diamond center increased from an average value of $59.47 per carat last year to $70.58 p/c this year, an 18.7 percent year to year increase.

India exported 2.3 million carats of rough diamonds worth $63.4 million, an average value of $27.43 p/c.

Source: www.idexonline.com

Alex Purdie, Kirsty Rennie, Angela Torrance and Nicole O’Leary, are part of the team at the Fraser Hart store in Argyll Arcade

A Glasgow family jewellers has won a prestigious customer care award.

Retail Jeweller, the trade bible, compiled its list of Britain’s best jewellers and Fraser Hart came top as Multiple Jeweller of the Year.

The team at the Argyll Arcade branch were praised for their “friendly professional service and attentive customer care”.

It is the fourth time since 2003 the company has been voted top in a major national retail award, beating off stiff opposition from a long list of major jewellery chains.

> continue reading "Family firm is the gem among jewellery shops"

SURAT: As the gem dealers in Antwerp and Dubai have increased the rough diamond prices by about three per cent, anticipating robust demand from key consuming centre in Surat ahead of Christmas season, diamantaires have started building pressure on the promoters of new diamond syndicate to speed up the legalities of forming Surat Diamond Sourcing India Limited (SDSIL) and start its operations.

Industry experts said the prices of rough diamonds have climbed this year after producers, including De Beers, cut output and gem dealers rebuilt stockpiles. The rough prices rebounded by almost 15 to 20 per cent from its pre-recession level following the increase in jewellery sales across the globe, including the United States, China, Hong Kong, South America, United Aran Emirates and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.

> continue reading "To Counter Increase In Rough Diamond Prices"

Botswana’s economy should expand by 8.4 percent this year due to higher diamond demand, but the country would need to trim its public workforce and promote private industry to maintain high growth rates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.

Botswana’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 3.7 percent last year after the global financial crisis slashed demand for diamonds, which are the economy’s mainstay.

“The economy will likely see some rebalancing this year and next as mining continues its gradual recovery while the non-mining sector decelerates as fiscal stimulus is withdrawn,” the IMF said.

Botswana’s central bank slashed interest rates by 500 basis points between December 2008 and December 2009, while the government boosted spending to counter the recession.

> continue reading "Botswana’s growth to hit 8.4% as diamonds shine again"

Exports of gems and jewellry from India for April-July 2010 leapt 54% compared to 2009, initial data from the Gem and Jewellry Export Promotion Council indicated.

In terms of dollar value, the increase was even higher – 68.55% - reaching a total of $11.47 billion.

The diamond trade saw a dramatic rise, with cut and polished diamond exports rose 63% over last year, while gold jewellry exports in both the domestic tariff and the special economic zones were up 22.93%.

Rough diamond exports were up 49%, while exports of colored gemstones declined slightly – 0.15% - from the preceding year.

> continue reading "India Gem and Jewellry Exports Up 54%"

This week’s ruling that the court will re-hear the De Beers class action law suit was based on lack of common claims and will Grants All Sides a chance to re-argue their case, according to legal trade association Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

On August 27, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order granting a re-hearing before the entire Third Circuit panel. The issue for the en banc panel to decide is whether the lower court correctly analyzed if it was appropriate to certify the suit as a class action, JVC said in a release that explained the ruling.

Some members of the class challenged the certification of the class and the settlement agreement at the Third Circuit based on a claim (among others) of a lack of common harm to all of the members of the class. A smaller three judge panel of the Third Circuit decided to send the case back to the District Court for re-consideration on that ground, but now the full court will re-consider the grounds for the appeal.

> continue reading "Recent De Beers Class Action Ruling ‘A Chance to Re-Argue Case’"

Botswana’s economy is expected to expand by 8.4 percent this year thanks to a rebound in global diamond demand and, consequently, the country’s diamond production. However, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which recently concluded the 2010 Article IV consultation with Botswana, the country will need to cut its public spending and promote private industry to maintain high growth rates.

After last year’s global financial crisis caused a worldwide drop in diamond demand, Botswana’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 3.7 percent last year, according to the IMF, which claims that Botswana is now recovering from its worst recession in at least 40 years.

> continue reading "IMF FORECASTS GDP GROWTH FOR BOTSWANA"