Dominion Corp to Hold Tenders in Israel Following Talks

(IDEX Online News) – Senior executives from Dominion Diamonds Marketing Corp this week held talks with Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) President Yair Sahar and other diamond industry representatives aimed at identifying customers for the company's rough diamond production.

One of the first results of the meetings with Pound and Dalal, is Dominion's intention to hold tenders of large rough diamonds in Israel from 2014.

"We thank [company president] Jim Pounds and [V-P sales] Harsh Dalal for taking up our invitation to come and visit the Israeli diamond industry … to get a taste, just prior to the US & Israel Diamond Week in Israel, of the huge marketing event that we are creating here," Sahar said.

"Pounds' exploratory visit here is the result of a series of preparatory talks that I have conducted during the past months. Israel's diamond industry needs suppliers such as Dominion to sustain its high level manufacturing capabilities and we think that Israel and Dominion are a good fit," Sahar noted.

"With the takeover of BHP's diamond interests, Dominion now controls the output of two of the world's most prolific diamond mines, Ekati and Diavik, mines that produce high quality diamonds that are of great interest to the Israeli diamond industry and trade. We genuinely hope that Dominion will finds it justified to add more Israeli firms to its customer portfolio," Sahar added.

Jim Pounds said that he and Dalal were in Israel foremost on a fact-finding mission. "We feel very welcome here, and are impressed with the vibrant energy of Israel's diamond industry and trade. Israel – and the Ramat Gan diamond exchange complex – is one of the most advanced diamond trading, distribution and manufacturing hubs. I can assure our Israeli colleagues that we will take everything we learn here back with us and carefully weigh our options," Pounds stated.