Rio Tinto Diamonds Appoints New Head to India Office

Rio Tinto Diamonds NV appointed Vikram Merchant to head its Mumbai-based India office. He took the helm July 14. Rio is an important supplier to the Indian diamond market, mostly with goods from its Argyle mine in Australia.

Merchant is the former Business Development Manager of the Hindustan Diamond Company, part of the De Beers group, that supplies goods outside of the Sight system and is a leading supplier to the Indian industry.

“I am delighted to represent Rio Tinto Diamonds in India, particularly at this time when many of our Select Diamantaires are actively developing their business models in this market,” Merchant said.

In addition to Argyle, Rio Tinto has a 60 percent stake in the Diavik diamond mine in Canada and fully owns the Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe.