In a recent presentation, Marcus Randolph, BHP-Billiton’s chief diamond executive, noted that since 1970 rough diamond prices (in real terms) have doubled, while the price of zinc went down 50% and that of copper some 75%. Though diamond prices have still not yet recovered to their peak... Read More...

The (not unexpected) severe reduction in the list of DTC sightholders remains the main topic of discourse in the cutting and trading centers, almost as if there are no other issues on the industry agenda. There are other matters, but they all pale in the enormity and significance of the actions of De Beers and thus it is only logical that the issue remains ‘hot’. Read More...

Last week’s memo reflected market sentiments linking the selection of DTC sightholders and its rough distribution decisions to De Beers’ corporate interests in its LVMH joint retail jewelry venture. It implied that De Beers may be “cornering” the market of the larger goods, strengthening a monopoly status on the upper... Read More...

Some of the (many) New York DTC sightholders removed from the client list have the most amazing, exciting and successful marketing programs. The argument given in most instances to justify the removal is rough “availability”. Read More...

The boardroom drama that took place last week at Trans Hex was stuff of which movies are made of. What was seen as an exciting and done (!) deal was "hijacked" by a third party that now is trying to gain entry into Trans Hex by bringing itself in with the goods of an earlier deal. Read More...

The Internet can be a very dangerous medium. An authoritative mining website carried a sensational story this week headlined "Scoop ….De Beers May Make An Offer For BHP Billiton's Ekati Diamond Mine in Canada." After explaining the great logic of such a move it even intimated that " the word is that a price of between $600 million and $700 million may be agreed." That is such a ridiculously Read More...

Not so long ago, smoking a cigarette in a restaurant or referring to your secretaries affectionately as ‘the girls’ were perfectly acceptable practices even though one might argue over each of them. Today these girls are ‘staff persons’, and smoking is out - period. When time-honored practices carried out in good faith and with no ulterior motives suddenly... Read More...

Success begets success. Washington policy makers and international organizations (such as the World Bank) have “discovered” the Kimberley Process and are now exploring whether the system can be effectively applied to other commodities as well. Suddenly, academicians... Read More...

In a very carefully crafted speech in Johannesburg, De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer outlined what he sees as the “limits” of Kimberley Process. Nicky seems to go “further” than most of the industry would like... Read More...

Sometimes when filing an article, some facts may already have changed when it gets uploaded. Last Wednesday (Yellowknife, NWT, Canada time), De Beers Canada president joined the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) hearings in the Snap Lake licensing process, putting to rest any uncertainty on who-is-in-charge and rumors about changes at the... Read More...