It's been a tough few days. Last Friday an illegal gold mine collapsed in Zimbabwe, killing at least 10 people. Then on Sunday a private plane collecting diamonds from the Murowa mine, also in Zimbabwe, crashed killing all six people on board. Among them were Indian... Read More...

It was going to "turn the diamond world upside down". That's how HB Antwerp described the innovation behind its agreement with Canadian miner Lucara. It would pay a best-guess polished price for Lucara's larger stones - a marked departure from standard practice Read More...

A brief history of diamonds: De Beers found them, De Beers sold them. The end. Company founder Cecil Rhodes bought his first diamond mine in 1871 and built a global industry. He had a ready supply of gems that were sufficiently scarce to be sold as "rare"... Read More...

There's nothing like a swift and decisive action. Sadly, Christie's decision to cancel the final sale of Heidi Horten's vast jewelry collection was neither swift nor decisive. The auction house dithered for six months, despite an onslaught of criticism, and only decided... Read More...

There can be few indicators in the diamond world as compelling as De Beers rough sales. The three figures between a dollar sign and the word "million" that are published every cycle provide a pretty good snapshot of the health, or otherwise, of the industry... Read More...

What happens if an advertiser fails to mention that the diamond they're selling was actually grown in a lab? There's a set of guidelines in place in the US, formulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which require what it calls "clear and conspicuous disclosure".... Read More...

Steven Singer is putting his money where his mouth is. He's so convinced that lab growns are worthless that he's literally giving them away. You may have read about the giveaway launched earlier this month at his store in Philadelphia, USA, with 600 customers getting... Read More...

It's been a busy few days at Lucara. Last week the Canadian miner found a 1,080-carat diamond. This week it lost a CEO. Eira Thomas may have attracted undue interest by virtue of being a woman in a man's world - which earned her the tabloid title Queen of Diamonds... Read More...

You may have seen reports in recent days of an all-diamond ring - a huge lab grown painstakingly crafted into a perfect circle. It wasn't the first of its kind, it certainly won't be the last . . . and the company that produced it is already working on something bigger and better... Read More...

The ink is barely dry on the provisional new De Beers deal with Botswana, and attention is already turning to Namibia. Namdia, the state-owned diamond trading company, has made it clear it's hoping for a significant increase in its 15 per cent sales allocation... Read More...