Aber Open Tender in Early November

Aber Diamond Corporation officially announced the one time open tender it plans to hold instead of the regularly scheduled allocation that was suppose to take place last Monday. It will take place in November under third party supervision.

As reported last week by IDEX Online, on Friday the 15 Aber informed clients that the allocation is cancelled and instead an open tender will take place, causing great disappointment among its regular customers.

In a statement released by the company Thursday afternoon, it says it “has elected to sell a substantial portion of its October diamond sales allocation through an open market tender process,” adding that the diamond market “has changed substantially” since it started selling diamond in March 2003.

The mine owner went on saying, “Run-of-mine diamond production is an intricate product which is sorted and sold in many different market assortments tailored for different end-uses. Diamond prices have risen significantly over the last year but the price changes have been substantially different between different categories of diamonds.

In such a dynamic market, an open market tender is one of many mechanisms available to Aber to measure current pricing. The tender, which will be managed by Aber under independent third party supervision is intended to ensure that both Aber's shareholders, and its diamond customers, receive fair value. All of Aber's regular customers will be included as invitees to attend the tender and submit bids on the various parcels.

The process will be undertaken in Aber's Antwerp sales offices during early November and will have the effect of deferring the revenue from one sales event from the third quarter into the fourth quarter. “