"Record prices", "very strong market", "positive sentiment", "soaring consumer demand". Remember those phrases? That's the way the world looked the last time we welcomed a New Year. How things have changed. One word that had barely appeared in the... Read More...

It's one thing when one of the world's most valuable diamonds is mysteriously pulled from auction. It's quite another when it turns out the reason is an allegation that the 13.15-carat fancy vivid pink gem had been sent from Qatar to the USA, to be "spiritually cleansed"... Read More...

Anglo American owns 85% of De Beers and Botswana owns the remaining 15%. It is the seventh largest mining company in the world and in 2021 it made a staggering profit (EBIDTA) of $20.6 billion (more than double 2020). But De Beers' diamonds contributed... Read More...

It's a heist that could prove to be bigger than the Hatton Garden safe deposit raid in 2015. Raiders managed to get through a 1.75-meter thick steel door at a vault in Berlin, crack the security codes and overcome a fog alarm. They escaped with 1,000 luxury watches... Read More...

It's all about responsible sourcing. That's what consumers want, and that's what they're getting with "diver diamonds". In terms of global output, they may be a drop in the ocean, but diamonds recovered by divers from converted fishing boats, in the shallow waters ... Read More...

Three stories in the diamond world particularly took my interest this week. I'll come to the details in a moment, but first, allow me a moment to digress briefly and provide a little context. There was a newspaper quiz that became something of a Saturday highlight for us... Read More...

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. The USA announced sanctions against its biggest diamond producer, Alrosa, on 25 February. The Kimberley Process formally resolved on 5 November that it would set up an ad hoc committee to oversee Read More...

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. The USA announced sanctions against its biggest diamond producer, Alrosa, on 25 February. The Kimberley Process formally resolved on 5 November that it would set up an ad hoc committee to oversee Read More...

Everybody loves a brand. In a world of uncertainty they represent quality and reliability. We trust them, we respect them, we believe in them. Do they actually create products that are objectively better? Maybe not. But they have somehow earned our trust and... Read More...

It's less than a quarter of a century since Canada opened its first diamond mine. Much has changed since Ekati, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, began commercial production in October 1998. Not least a growing awareness of the planet's finite resources Read More...