Argyle Pink Diamond Tender Showcased For the First Time in India

Rio Tinto’s 2009 Argyle Pink Diamond Tender is celebrating the 25th year and for the first time is holding a viewing in Mumbai, India.

On show are 43 pink diamonds for pre-selected Indian diamantaires, collectors and high net worth individuals.

“Presenting the Argyle Pink Diamond Tender in Mumbai is a reflection of the emerging importance of India as a source of demand for colored diamonds," said Jean-Marc Lieberherr, general manager for the sales and marketing for all diamonds from Rio Tinto’s mines. He cited Rio Tinto's success following their blue diamond viewing earlier this year, " we had a great response from Indian diamantaires to our tender of rare blue diamonds from the Argyle mine and this encouraged us to look to Mumbai as a 2009 Pink Diamond Tender viewing location.”

This year’s tender includes a 2.61carat intense pink heart-shaped diamond named Argyle Amour, the most valuable heart-shaped pink diamond produced from the Argyle mine. Two other noteworthy stones are a 1.25 carat purplish pink round diamond and a 1.10 carat red oval diamond.

Rio Tinto's Argyle mine, located in Western Australia, produces over 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds—sold in a broad range of colors and sizes. Fancy diamonds rarity correlates to their rarity, for every 10,000 colorless diamonds, there is approximately one colored.

In addition to Argyle, Rio Tinto owns 60 percent of the Diavik mine in Canada and 78 percent interest in the Murowa mine in Zimbabwe.