The London-based company, which has a 6.54% stake in South African platinum group miner Sedibelo Resources, said that plummeting prices for platinum group metals (PGMs) has affected its bottom line.

Since the beginning of 2023, prices for palladium and rhodium, used mainly in the catalytic converters that clean exhaust fumes in vehicles, have dropped by 44% and 63% respectively. This collapse is attributed to inventory reductions and a sluggish global economy. 

While the decrease in platinum has been less significant, the overall decline in PGMs has had a severe impact on producers’ profits.

Gemfields said it had reduced the value of its Sedibelo investment, which will result in a write-down ranging between $4 million and $28 million. This would translate in a loss of $0.8 US cents per share for 2023, a significant change from 4.8 US cents in earnings per share of achieved in 2022. 

Headline loss per share, which includes Sedibelo Resources’ fair value loss, is likely to be 0.9 cents compared with the prior year’s headline earnings per share of 4.8 US cents.

When it comes to its core business, Gemfields saw revenue from its 75%-owned Kagem emerald mine in Zambia drop 40% to $89.9 million in 2023, from $148.6 million the previous year. Top-line revenue at its Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique decreased by 9.2% to $151.4 million from $166.7 million in 2022.

“Production of premium rough gemstones has been weaker at both Kagem and Montepuez Rompared to 2022, and resulted in November 2023’s planned higher quality emerald auction being withdrawn from our schedule,” chief executive Sean Gilbertson said.

“We look forward to completing our first auction of the year later on today, with a commercial-quality emerald auction taking place in Jaipur, and our next higher-quality emerald and mixed-quality ruby auctions to take place in Q2,” Gilbertson added.

Gemfields’ luxury brand Fabergé also disappointed, recording revenue of $15.7 million, which is 11% lower than the $17.6 million it had in 2022, mainly due to softer demand for precious stones.

Australia’s Lucapa Diamond (ASX: LOM) has recovered a 203-carat diamond at its prolific Lulo mine in Angola, the fifth-largest ever found at the operation.

The diamond is also the third 100-carat-plus stone found at Lulo this year.

Lucapa said the high-quality, type IIa diamond was recovered during the processing of run-of-mine stockpiled ore and its recovery follows those of a 162 and a 116 carat diamonds on successive days last month.

The mine, which hosts the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds, began commercial production in January 2015. Only a year later, it delivered the largest ever diamond recovered in Angola — a 404-carat white stone later named the “4th February Stone”.

Lucapa has a 40% stake in the Lulo mine. The rest is held by Angola’s national diamond company (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, a private entity.

Angola is the world’s fifth diamond producer by value and sixth by volume. Its industry, which began a century ago under Portuguese colonial rule, is successfully being liberalized.

The company said the volume of diamonds with a viable chance of economic extraction at Lulo increased to 228,000 carats as of December 31, up from 153,870 carats the previous year. The newly identified resources, it said, could add an extra eight years to the deposit’s production.

Lucapa noted the updated figures are the result of an independent asset evaluation conducted by South Africa’s Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants.

The study assessed the resources at $1,897 per carat, a 5% decrease from $2,000 in December 2022, which partly reflects the decline of diamond prices last year. Diamond grades also decreased, but slightly — to 4.55 carats per 10 cubic meters. 

Lucapa recovered 181,900 precious stones in 2023, a 45% increase from the previous year, with an average rough size of 1.26 carats per stone compared to 1.23 carats in 2022.

This increase represents the sixth consecutive year of resources growth at Lulo, the company said. Total production from Lulo to date has reached 200,000 carats, generating $426 million at an average price of $2,122 per carat.

The Lulo mine, in operations since 2015,  is considered the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds operation.

Lucapa has a 40% interest and the rest is held by Angola’s national diamond company (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, a private entity.

Angola is the world’s fifth diamond producer by value and sixth by volume. Its industry, which began a century ago under Portuguese colonial rule, is successfully lessening government regulations and restrictions in favour of a greater participation by private entities.

Lucapa’s shares closed at A$0.12 on Monday in Sydney, leaving the diamond miner with a market capitalization of A$33.25 million (about $22 million).

The letter, dated March 13, said the disruptions would erode the competitive advantage of the centuries-old Antwerp diamond trade. It was addressed to Belgium’s main diamond industry group, Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), and requested a review of the new procedures.

Any impact is likely to be reduced by sluggish market conditions. Diamond inventories are high and prices have fallen. Paul Zimnisky, a global diamond analyst, said last month that prices were down 25% from their early 2022 peak.

Al Cook, CEO of mining company Anglo American’s De Beers’ diamond business, has said the miner would reduce production this year in response to surplus supply.

“While we fully support the decisions taken by Belgium, the European Union, and the G7 nations, in regards to the sanctions of January 1st 2024, the implementation of the measures to enforce the sanction has adversely affected all of our operations,” said the letter, signed by over 100 local firms.

“The intention was to prevent the flow of diamonds from sanctioned states, but the reality we face is the severe disruption of our supply chains, and alienation from the rest of the global trade.”

A Belgian government official said the delays were temporary and were easing.

The EU and Group of Seven (G7) countries agreed to ban direct imports of Russian diamonds to their markets as of Jan. 1 and before phasing in a full ban on Russian-origin stones via third countries from March 1 because of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Russia’s state-run Alrosa, which together with De Beers is one of the world’s top diamond producers, was also placed under sanctions by the EU.

Diamond hub

Antwerp remains the world’s biggest diamond hub though 90% of stones are polished in India. Belgium pushed hard for the G7 to adopt a version of its proposed plan to try to prevent Antwerp from losing more business after major Western jewellers began eschewing Russian stones.

Diamond dealers said their shipments have been held up for over a week at customs even if the gems were straight from African producers.

The Belgian government official said shipments pending would be processed within 24 hours.

“The indirect ban coincided with the Hong Kong Diamond Fair which is an annual peak period… This, in combination with the expected teething problems caused some initial delay in processing of shipments during the first days,” he said.

Diamond dealers say they expect more problems when the additional tracing requirements take effect from September.

“We see the procedures will cause Antwerp to further lose competitive advantage… rather than deal a meaningful blow to any sanctioned products,” the letter said.

“The current trajectory threatens the existence of Antwerp’s diamond industry, a heritage of six centuries.”

The head of the AWDC, Ari Epstein, said the group would soon present the new measures, adding it was “acutely aware of the challenges and disruptions this timing may have caused”.

“Let me be unequivocally clear: the violation of sanctions is criminal in nature and not taken lightly by governments or our organization. Our commitment to compliance… is unwavering and absolute,” Epstein said in a statement.

(By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Julia Payne; Editing by Gareth Jones)

According to the scientists, diamond is known for its high thermal conductivity, which is four to five times higher than that of copper. For this reason, it is a particularly interesting material when it comes to cooling power electronics in electric transportation, photovoltaics or storage systems.

Until now, heat sinks made of copper or aluminum plates have increased the heat-emitting surface of components that produce heat, thus preventing damage due to overheating. But the new nano-membranes made from synthetic diamonds that are thinner than a human hair can be integrated directly into electronic components to cool the power electronics in electric vehicles, which transfer traction energy from the battery to the electric motor and convert the current from direct current to alternating current.

These flexible, electrically insulating nano-membranes have the potential to reduce the local heat load of electronic components, such as current regulators in electric motors, thus increasing the energy efficiency, service life and road performance of electric vehicles.

When used in the charging infrastructure, the diamond membranes also contribute to charging speeds that are five times higher than the current average.

The researchers pointed out that, generally speaking, applying a copper layer underneath the component improves the heat flow. However, there is an electrically insulating oxide or nitride layer between the copper and the component, which has poor thermal conductivity.

“We want to replace this intermediate layer with our diamond nanomembrane, which is extremely effective at transferring heat to the copper, as diamonds can be processed into conductive paths,” Matthias Mühle, head of the Diamond Technologies group at the Fraunhofer US Center Midwest CMW, said in a media statement. “As our membrane is flexible and free-standing, it can be positioned anywhere on the component or the copper or integrated directly into the cooling circuit.”

Mühle and his team achieved this by growing the polycrystalline diamond nanomembrane on a separate silicon wafer, then detaching it, turning it over and etching away the back of the diamond layer. This results in a free-standing, smooth diamond that can be heated at a low temperature of 80°C and subsequently attached to the component.

“The heat treatment automatically bonds the micrometre-thick membrane to the electronic component. The diamond is then no longer free-standing but integrated into the system,” the expert said.

The nanomembrane can be produced on a wafer scale four inches and larger, making it well-suited for industrial applications.

According to Mühle, a patent has already been filed for the development. Application tests with inverters and transformers in application fields such as electric transportation and telecommunications are due to start this year.

The latest restriction adds to a ban on Russian diamonds announced in December and will provide Canadians “additional assurance that the diamonds that they purchase are not supporting Russia’s illegal war,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Canada has been at the forefront of imposing economic barriers on the Putin Regime since he launched his brutal full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine, which caused devastating losses to Ukrainians. Along with our allies and partners, we have imposed severe sanctions on the Russian regime, and we will continue to do so to hold Putin and his enablers to account,” said Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly.

Russia is the world’s largest rough diamond producer, with its production valued at more than approximately $4.7 billion in 2022. It is also a significant global exporter of diamonds and diamond products, with the value of its total exports exceeding $5.2 billion in the same year.

Together, G7 countries represent 70% of the world diamond market.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada sanctioned Russia’s state-owned Alrosa.

Canada also revoked Russia’s most-favoured nation status, which effectively imposed a 35% tariff on all Russian imports to Canada.

This led to a drastic decrease in the value of all Russian imports, including products that will be subject to this ban, from $327,224 in 2022 to $13,440 for the first eight months of 2023.

Read More: Diamond producers warn of pitfalls in G7’s Russia gem ban

Debswana, equally owned by Botswana and Anglo American Plc’s De Beers, sells 75% of its output to De Beers with the balance taken up by state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).

The central bank said Debswana sold diamonds worth $3.44 billion in 2023 from $4.59 billion registered in 2022, a year in which the joint venture made record sales.

Debswana’s production in 2023 was up 2% to 24.7 million carats and the company has said it would cut production this year to match market conditions.

In recent months major industry players have taken measures to ease a supply glut, with India – which cuts and polishes 90% of the world’s rough diamonds – implementing a two-month import pause, while ODC cancelled its November and December auctions.

Debswana senior corporate affairs manager Matshidiso Kamona told Reuters in January that the company would trim output in view of the reduced demand for rough diamonds in the global market but did not reveal the production target for 2024.

Botswana and De Beers in June last year agreed a new 10-year diamond sales agreement, which will see ODC’s share of Debswana output rise to 30%, before rising gradually to 50% by the end of the new contract.

(By Brian Benza, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Elaine Hardcastle)

Russia is the biggest global supplier of uncut diamonds by volume. The international community has imposed new sanctions targeting Russian diamond transactions as part of a wider strategy aimed at reducing Moscow’s income streams, which support its military actions in Ukraine.

In December, the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. declared an outright ban on Russian diamonds, effective from Jan. 1. That is to be followed by gradual implementation of restrictions on indirectly imported Russian diamonds starting from March 1. By September, a new system for verifying the origins of these gems is expected to be in place, although details regarding the verification process and its location remain uncertain.

“The G7 must understand that the direction they have chosen will cause great damage to the world diamond industry. We hope that the concerns we are voicing will convince the G7 governments that an alternative solution must be found,” WFDB president Yoram Dvash said in a Feb. 28 statement to The Northern Miner.

Criticism of the sanctions comes against a backdrop of lower demand for diamonds from India and China, and falling prices for rough stones, estimated by the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Price Index to be down about 25% from their early 2022 high.

‘Irreparable’ industry harm

The industry leaders are worried that enforcing these sanctions could lead to logistical, operational, and financial challenges. Among the sanctions’ new effects, one rule is that non-Russian diamonds must now be certified in Antwerp, Belgium before being sent to other markets.

They’re concerned about possible supply bottlenecks and unbalanced advantages to one player to the detriment of others.

“While strongly agreeing that the time has come for the industry to be able to trace the origin of their diamonds, we should be working together to meet these objectives but feel that the process that has been suggested will cause irreparable harm to the non-Russian industry,” presidents and members of the 27 diamond bourses within the WFDB said in the open letter.

Dvash says the WFDB is actively seeking industry consensus to address the challenges at hand. “Sanctions should work in the right direction, punishing the intended party and not the entire industry,” he said, adding that the sanctions could inadvertently make Russian diamonds more desirable due to increased costs and reduced supply of non-Russian alternatives.

The effect on the cost of rough and polished diamonds from non-Russian sources being forced into one node wasn’t considered in the calculations, the WFDB letter argued, voicing strong opposition to designating Antwerp as the single verification point.

“As diamond experts, we know that this would add no value to the objectives of the G7 member states and would result in a major restriction for all non-Russian diamonds, with terrible impacts on the industry,” the letter reads.

What’s more, the higher anticipated costs of shipping the diamonds to Belgium, which will ostensibly include extra financing terms for the diamond traders as well as insurance and freight charges will add significantly to the price of the stones.

Sovereign interference

The diamond bourses say the process detailed by the EU, as it stands, undermines sovereign African governments’ ability to send their gemstones directly to their chosen market. It also undermines legitimate local industry beneficiation and could encourage smuggling, which the WFDB says would be counterproductive.

Belgium favours conducting these verifications locally. Its support aligns with the Belgian government’s and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre’s aim to establish a hardy, traceable system for verifying the origins of diamonds to prevent Russian gems from entering the market under pretenses.

Botswana, Africa’s diamond hub, issued a statement on Feb. 9, generally supporting the initiatives to ensure that the diamond trade is responsible and does not fund conflict. Despite potentially facing added costs in a new verification system, the Botswana government sees an opportunity for enhanced value for its natural diamonds.

While the country has not directly banned Russian stones, it favours continued dialogue and partnerships with the G7 and other stakeholders to build a market that benefits development and avoids funding illegal activities. Botswana aims to protect and promote its diamonds-for-development narrative while ensuring its diamond industry remains a positive example of ethical sourcing and economic benefits.

Reuters reported on Feb. 8 from the Cape Town Mining Indaba that De Beers, a unit of Anglo American (LSE: AAL), and Botswana’s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company asked the G7 to consider unintended consequences as the bloc prepares to impose the second phase of the ban on Russian diamonds, concerned that African prices would be hugely inflated.

“Effectively (African producers) would be forced to send all their diamonds in one direction rather than choosing … (and) ethical African diamonds would become much more expensive,” De Beers CEO Al Cook told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

De Beers had previously urged the G7 to engage Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Angola and India to develop the framework with input from across the industry.

Diamond market outlook

The diamond leaders call for more explicit guidance and a more global, collaborative approach to ensure transparency and ethical sourcing without disproportionately impacting the broader industry. They stress the need for solutions that do not centralize trade to a single point (such as Antwerp) and request the adoption of technology that could support the ethical tracking of diamonds across all regions, including support for artisanal and small-scale miners.

The signatories also want the G7 and EU to give assurance that whichever provenance-proving technology they settle on for diamond verification should be shared universally with non-Russian diamond producers to enable their continued inclusion in the market.

Artisanal and small-scale miners must also have free access to the technology and should be able to send their rough stones to any cutting centre.

While the Russian diamond sanctions intensify, De Beers said in a Feb. 22 market update that industry conditions are expected to remain “challenging” in the short term but that the long-term outlook is favourable.

De Beers says the heightened emphasis on the origins of diamonds, particularly with the upcoming G7 restrictions, may boost demand for De Beers’ diamonds, especially those tracked via their blockchain platform, Tracr.

However, the global supply of rough diamonds may decrease due to aging mines and few discoveries.

Further, De Beers says the market for lab-grown diamonds is experiencing a significant price drop, impacting manufacturers and possibly reducing retail prices, which could enhance the perceived value of natural diamonds compared to lab-grown alternatives.

Turnover was up 9.2% at 322.6 billion roubles.

Group of Seven leaders agreed in December to ban non-industrial diamonds from Russia by January, and Russian diamonds sold by third countries from March.

The European Union added Alrosa, Russia’s biggest diamond producer, to its sanctions list in January as part of punitive measures it has imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

($1 = 92.0625 roubles)

(Editing by Alexander Smith)

Diamond Standard Co., developer of the world’s only regulated and market traded natural diamond commodities, announced Tuesday that former Anglo American chief executive Mark Cutifani has joined the company’s board of advisors.

Cutifani was CEO of Anglo, one of the world’s largest mining companies, from 2013 to 2022, and chairman of De Beers, the leading diamond mine operator and marketer of natural diamonds.

Currently, he serves as chairman of Vale Base Metals, which shortly after his appointment raised $3.4 billion from the Public Investment Fund and Ma’aden mining of Saudi Arabia.

Cutifani was formerly CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, a $7 billion market cap mining company producing gold, silver and uranium and a member of the World Gold Council during the development of the SPDR Gold Trust.

The timing of him joining Diamond Standard coincides with the company’s plans to launch listed financial products for diamonds, enabling investors to diversify into an under-allocated asset. Diamond Standard has agreed to develop futures on MGEX via CME Globex and options on MIAX, and previously filed an ETF.

Diamond Standard Fund, the company’s inaugural fund offering, is a collaboration with Horizon Kinetics, a $6.5 billion SEC-registered investment advisor and sponsor of the Inflation Beneficiaries ETF (NYSE: INFL). A strategic partnership with Oasis Pro Markets will allow for this private fund for accredited investors to list on an alternative trading system.

Diamond Standard’s commodities are transparent coins and bars containing geologically equivalent sets of natural diamonds, assembled under supervision of the Bermuda Monetary Authority and internal audit by Deloitte. Bloomberg and Refinitiv publish the daily market price, and the commodities trade on the Diamond Standard Spot Marketplace.

The 82-year-old serial investor, who steered the expansion of both Africa’s biggest clothing retailer and the continent’s largest grocer, has dived into something that harkens back to the start of his storied career nearly half a century ago: diamonds.

“I’ve always been fascinated by diamonds because it’s that amazing industry where you plod along and then one day stumble on a big stone that can change your whole life,” Wiese said over lunch at the summer-green vineyards of Beau Constantia, a wine farm in Cape Town. “This stretch of the Atlantic Ocean produces some of the world’s highest-quality diamonds.”

The theory goes that the more than 2.5 billion-year-old Kaapvaal Craton and shifting continental plates transported diamond-bearing detritus down South Africa’s Orange River to the south-western coast of the continent. It is here that Wiese dreams of finding a “big one,” leading the self-made tycoon over the last few years to spend at least some of his eight-hour work days on his mining business, which he says has already turned up a $10 million pink diamond.

Trans Hex Group Ltd., the mining unit Wiese owns with his son-in-law, plans over time to hunt for other sought-after minerals and metals like phosphate, lithium, gold and platinum. It has four large ships fitted with equipment that can look for these treasures by vacuuming up gravel from the ocean floor that’s processed on board before the tailings are tossed back into the sea. A state-of-the-art diamond recovery vessel can cost as much as $420 million.

The magnate, whose net worth is $1.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — down from $7 billion after he lost a sizable chunk of his fortune with the 2017 implosion of the furniture stores chain Steinhoff International Holdings NV — knows what he’s venturing into.

Wiese first got into alluvial diamonds in 1976 when he bought a mine along the Orange River. It was the country’s biggest behind those held by Anglo American-owned De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer, which also mines along Namibian waters.

It was “a very exciting proposition,” Wiese said of his first enterprise. He sold it about five years later because he wanted funds to buy control of the clothing chain Pepkor, which became his biggest asset.

Industry observers say Wiese’s revived passion for diamond mining may be riskier than any of the bets he’s made in the retail sector, and that it shows he has not lost his appetite for adventure even after being badly burned by his investment in Steinhoff.

“South African mining is made up of pioneers, but this type of mining is not easy and gives patchy profits at best,” said David Shapiro, who has 52 years of experience on Johannesburg’s stock exchange and is chief global equity strategist at Sasfin Securities. “He’s got enough money to do what he needs to do, so perhaps he’s willing to dabble in riskier ventures.”

Born the son of a sheep and cattle farmer in the remote, desert-like northern city of Upington, Wiese obtained a law degree from Stellenbosch University in 1967, after which he joined Pep — founded two years earlier with a single store in a rural railway town. He left the business briefly to practice law, and unsuccessfully stood for parliament for the Progressive Federal Party.

Turning his focus back to Pep, he became the biggest shareholder and chairman of the company in 1981, renamed it Pepkor, and helped oversee an aggressive expansion drive. Pepkor bought retail chains Smart Group Holdings, Cashbuild, Checkers and Stuttafords in 1991 and made its first offshore foray that year, opening a Your More Store outlet in Scotland.

Wiese spent three and a half decades building Pepkor into a formidable business with operations across Africa and Europe, and spun off and expanded Shoprite Holdings Ltd. to become the continent’s biggest grocer. Shoprite remains his star investment.

In 2014, he exchanged his $2.5 billion Pepkor stake for stock in Steinhoff. Three years later, auditors refused to sign off on Steinhoff’s accounts after uncovering financial irregularities, and its share price tumbled by about 90%. It later emerged that its management had vastly inflated profits. Wiese denied any knowledge of the malfeasance.

A sprightly octogenarian, Wiese keeps up with a wide range of his interests. While deeply involved in the nitty gritty of the retail business, he’s known to be able to jump into everything from a discussion on enabling more South Africans to own land, or the significance of a book he’s reading or even why Europe’s loss of community-style living hurts its economies.

The entrepreneur still drives his Lexus Landcruiser from his house in Clifton, the beach-front strip in Cape Town, to his office, from where he oversees his various businesses. These include gym chain Virgin Active and South African food maker Premier Group Ltd. He’s also recently invested in a medical malpractice insurance company.

Even with an established family office, Wiese says he has no plans to retire. He wants to continue working and to remain active, with his two resolutions for 2024 being to visit his 4,000-hectare (9,884-acre) Lourensford Wine Estate near Cape Town once a month and travel to his private wildlife reserve in the Kalahari desert more than a handful of times this year, he said.

“Many people think I’m crazy to still come and sit in the office every day,” he said. “But I think, while you’re alive, be active, be part of life. And I enjoy it, even when we sit here sometimes really struggling with challenges.”

These include operating in a country with the gross domestic product growing less than 1%, inflation at 5.1% and unemployment at almost 32%.

Wiese, like most South Africans, is closely watching the country’s politics as it gears up this year for what is expected to be its most significant election since the end of Apartheid 30 years ago. He expects the ruling African National Congress to be more heavily challenged than it has been since it started ruling over the newly democratic nation in 1994.

This would be “a good change,” he said, adding that for all South Africa’s problems, there is nowhere else he’d rather live. All three of his children live near him.

Still, the country’s economic travails have placed a ceiling on the revenue growth of the retailers he owns — a limitation those companies are seeking to mitigate by claiming a bigger share of the local market through greater digitization. Wiese says that Shoprite is almost becoming a “digital business that has a grocery store attached.” The company’s Checkers Sixty60 was South Africa’s first one-hour grocery delivery app and makes up more than three quarters of the country’s on-demand delivery spend on such products.

The marine diamond mining business has provided some further diversification — albeit not without its own risks. Prices of the gems have been cut this year as suppliers try to revive sales, while production costs remain high. Beside the expensive vessels, offshore miners apply for concession areas that are usually hundreds of square kilometers and they need specialized crew who stay on board for weeks at a time.

There’s also opposition from scientists with environmental concerns. The impact of ship-based mining remains largely unknown and “without dedicated monitoring and ecological impact assessment, it is very difficult to detect the effects on the marine environment,” Iona Blair wrote in a paper published by University of Cape Town. A lot of people along Namibia and South Africa’s west coast make a living from fishing.

Norway’s recent decision to allow seabed mining exploration in its waters caused a call for a pause on such activities until regulations for mining in international waters are established.

Compared to Norway, however, the work Trans Hex does is in relatively shallow waters. Scientists contracted by Trans Hex concluded that some disturbance of the ocean floor, that has been untouched for millions of years, does not harm. The company also employs a few hundred people and brings in foreign currency through diamond sales, Wiese said.

“We think that on balance it’s a positive,” he said.

(By Janice Kew)

So what happened to cause prices to tumble? 

The pandemic years brought generational volatility to diamond supply. In 2020, production dipped to the lowest levels since the 1990s. A recovery in 2021 through 2023 ensued. However, the new “normal” for output is still some 15-30 million carats below pre-2020 levels.   

Global diamond production should hit 118 million carats this year, which compares to an estimated 110 million carats in 2020, but well short of the 136 million carats in 2019 and the 147 million carats in 2018. 

Demand for diamonds has been equally volatile over the last four years, impacting both rough and polished prices.  

Last year, the industry experienced a “bullwhip effect” of sorts as producers and traders rushed to replenish depleted stock following furious demand in 2021 and early 2022. The flood of new goods resulted in the buyers of rough diamonds (the midstream comprised of rough buyers, polishers and jewelry manufacturers) stringently curtailing new purchases as 2023 wound down. 

As a result, in last year’s fourth quarter, De Beers’ sales fell some 70% year-over-year in value terms – equating to an estimated $1 billion build in stock. Russia’s Alrosa suspended all sales outright in October and November, resulting in the accumulation of stock worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  

While the majors’ healthier balance sheets give them more flexibility in such situations, the impact on smaller, independent producers has been more immediate and consequential. 

In late October, Canada’s Stornoway Diamonds filed for bankruptcy for a second time. The first time was in 2019 and the Renard mine in Quebec was most recently run by creditors of the previously listed company, including Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR) and Investissement Québec. Stornoway put Renard on indefinite care and maintenance following what it described as a “significant and sudden drop” in global diamond prices. The mine, which began production in late 2016, has produced upwards of 2 million carats annually. 

In early November, South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LSE: PDL) deferred as much as $60 million in capital projects related to the extension of its two primary assets, the Cullinan and Finsch mines. The impact on supply will likely be felt in the back half of 2024 and into 2025.

Lab-made diamonds have also had an impact on the natural diamond sector. However, while they currently make up about 20% of global diamond jewelry demand, they have yet to gain wide acceptance outside of the United States. It should also be recognized that they have added incremental demand – i.e. some buyers of lab-grown diamonds would never have considered a natural diamond. 

2024 wildcard

Going into 2024, it is likely that miners will release into the market at least some excess stock they hold on any sign of a demand recovery. However, by the second half of the year, the market’s medium and longer-term supply dynamic could become more noticeable. 

An added “wildcard” will be the impact of wider Western sanctions on Russian diamonds, which come into full force this year. While the immediate impact of the embargo may not be as acute as some are projecting, the risk of further supply disruptions remains a possibility, especially in the medium term.  

As of March, all 1-carat-plus polished Russian stones (including those cut and polished outside of Russia) will be targeted by the G-7 countries and the larger European Union. As of September, the threshold will be expanded to include all stones 0.5 carat and larger. That said, the half-carat cutoff still excludes the majority of Russian supply by volume and an estimated 30-40% by value as Russian production is disproportionately skewed towards smaller diamonds.  

On a more micro supply note, commercial production at the newly inaugurated Luele mine (formerly referred to as Luaxe) in Angola will ramp up this year. A nearly completed first-phase processing plant will allow the mine to produce up to 4-5 million carats annually, making it an important source of new supply as aging mines around the world are depleted.  

During a press conference in November, Angolan officials said that Luele production could be “gradually” expanded as additional plant phases are added – which could eventually triple output. Luele’s resource is estimated at over 600 million carats, which could support a 60-plus year mine life. 

A moderate recovery in both rough and polished prices is likely this year. Price gains from seasonal restocking early in the year will probably be modest, as supply that was held back late last year is sold. However, by mid-year the midstream’s efforts to control supply could start to take effect. That could be further compounded by the global supply impact of the sanctions on Russian diamonds. 

Any price rise would still need to be supported by demand – for example, via a “soft landing” in a global macro-economic sense, which financial markets are implying. Demand out of China, the diamond industry’s second largest end-consumer market remains another key variable as the nation grapples with a secular slowdown in its economy and what some consider an emerging property crisis. 

Paul Zimnisky is a chartered financial analyst and independent diamond industry consultant based in New York (www.paulzimnisky.com). He can be reached at paul@paulzimnisky.com and followed on X @paulzimnisky. 

The miner announced a $1.6 billion impairment charge on its De Beers diamond business owing to faltering demand and a $500 million impairment on its Barro Alto nickel mine as prices are hit by slowing demand from the electric vehicle sector.

“We are now in a process of systematically going through all of our assets in a review just to assess their role in the portfolio, their success in the portfolio, and absolutely nothing is off the table,” CEO Duncan Wanblad told reporters.

The review is expected to take about a year, he said.

Anglo’s shares were up 3.3% by 1530 GMT.

The London-listed miner’s 2023 profit attributable to shareholders fell to $283 million from $4.5 billion a year earlier. The company declared a full-year dividend of $0.96 per share, down from $1.98.

Net debt swelled to $10.6 billion from $6.9 billion, slightly below the $10.93 billion expected by analysts.

Anglo, which also produces copper, platinum group metals (PGMs), iron ore and steelmaking coal, is not new to asset overhauls when commodity markets hit rock bottom. A decade ago, when its shares dived 75% on investor concerns over spiralling debt, the miner was poised to sell assets and cut jobs until the plans were abandoned thanks to a recovery in metal prices.

Both its South African unit Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American Platinum this week announced plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs and review agreements with 780 contractors.

Portfolio burdens

Wanblad said “the two assets that are dragging the portfolio today are the PGMs and diamonds businesses,” adding that more action will be taken if platinum prices continue to decline.

Sales of rough diamonds at the company’s De Beers unit fell in 2023 as an economic slowdown curbed appetite for luxury items in major consumers China and the United States.

“Diamond inventories stand at around $2 billion, which is high by the standards of the past decade…It is higher than we want it to be,” De Beers CEO Al Cook told Reuters.

“What we’ll be doing over the course of the next year is… reducing purchases and production,” he said, adding that he expects a gradual pick-up in demand later in the year.

De Beers aims to reduce sustainable overheads by $100 million via job cuts and the sale of non-core parts of the business to improve cashflow.

It has already suspended the Chidliak project and Gahcho Kue underground project in Canada.

“We continue to think that the asset (De Beers) should be disposed – a sale to a luxury business could be sensible, but we remain sceptical as to whether this would be at the $7.6 billion carrying value that Anglo includes in its valuation,” Berenberg analysts said.

Anglo had already announced $1.8 billion of spending cuts by 2026 after logging a $1.7 billion writedown on its project to produce fertiliser nutrients in Britain. The company is in talks with potential partners over options including the sale of a stake in the project.

(By Clara Denina and Felix Njini; Editing by Miral Fahmy, David Goodman and Kirsten Donovan)

The London-listed company has taken some measures to protect its balance sheet due to weak commodity prices, including cutting jobs and capital expenditure forecast.

Following is a list of steps taken by the company:

Feb. 20 – Unit Kumba Iron Ore announced plans to cut about 490 jobs, following a reduction in production as it struggles to overcome South Africa’s persistent rail bottlenecks.

Feb. 19 – Unit Anglo American Platinum said it plans to cut thousands of jobs at its mines in South Africa, after profit plunged by 71% last year.

Feb. 5 – Anglo American’s CEO Duncan Wanblad said the company may consider deeper cost-cutting measures unless market conditions improve after a fall in prices for platinum-group metals and a cyclical downturn that is the worst in 35 years.

Dec. 8 – Anglo American said it aims to cut capital expenditure by $1.8 billion by 2026. Capital expenditure in 2024 would be around $5.7 billion, $800 million lower than previously expected.

Dec. 8 – Kumba Iron Ore said it was cutting production over the next three years to align output to constrained capacity to transport minerals via rail to port.

Oct. 24 – Anglo American lowered its 2023 production forecast for copper on curtailments at its Chilean operations, even as its output of the metal rose 42% in the third quarter.

Oct. 4 – Anglo American said it is cutting corporate office jobs across several countries, as unions said its South African iron ore business plans to lay off scores of workers at its head office.

July 27 – The company cut payouts to shareholders after lower commodity prices and higher costs hurt its first-half earnings.

May 31 – The company said it will consolidate its production businesses into two regions as the miner pursues growth in “future-enabling” minerals. Anglo American added that it would consolidate its production businesses into two regions – Americas, and Africa and Australia from July 2023.

(By Anchal Rana; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

The diamonds were recovered from the direct milling of kimberlite ore from the South Lobe during a recent production run that saw additional recoveries of numerous, smaller +10.8 carat diamonds of high value, the company said.

The 320-carat is a gem-quality, top light brown diamond, while the 111-carat diamond is described as a Type IIa white stone of high quality. The two +50-carat stones add to these recent recoveries and are also Type IIa white diamonds.

These add to the collection of significant stones uncovered at Karowe, where last summer Lucara recovered a 692.3-carat diamond.

The recoveries, the company said, re-enforce the development of the underground mine which will target >95% EM/PK(S) ore during the first three years of underground production. The company invested $106 million in 2022 in underground development at Karowe.

“These diamond recoveries from the EM/PK(S) domain of the South Lobe further validate the quality and potential of the Karowe diamond mine,” CEO William Lamb said in a statement.

“Our team’s dedication to innovation and operational excellence continues to drive our success, and we look forward to delivering further value to our stakeholders,” Lamb said.

Researchers at Skoltech, the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other scientific organizations have found a way to improve diamond adhesion —the bond between diamond and transition metal—using niobium.

In a paper published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds, the scientists explain that although diamonds are beautiful gemstones, rough diamonds are much more interesting from a scientific point of view.

One of the promising areas of research towards diamond technological applications is diamond surface metallization, which is used to give the diamond surface new characteristics such as superior thermal conductivity, good thermal stability, improved wettability, and its original physical and chemical properties.

“Diamond, however, has two limitations related to the synthesis of large-sized diamond substrate and poor adhesion of metal contacts to the diamond surface,” Stanislav Evlashin, co-author of the study, said in a media statement.

“For example, when we worked on detectors for ionizing radiation and applied contacts made of gold and other materials, the adhesion of such contacts to diamond was very poor. At that point, we wondered how we could overcome such poor adhesion.”

One of the most effective ways to metalize diamonds is by sintering them with such metals as titanium, chromium, tantalum, zirconium, and others. When they interact with carbon, a layer of metal carbide is formed. The authors of the study chose niobium because of its ability to form chemically stable films of niobium carbides on the diamond surface.

“We attempted to create a superconductor on the diamond surface and realized that if we deposit niobium on it and then anneal it, the following phase transformations occur during annealing: the niobium film after heating turns into the Nb₂C compound, and after further heating over 1200 degrees—into NbC,” Evlashin said.

According to Evlashing and his colleague Alexander Kvashnin, theoretical calculations of the constant lattice of niobium carbide depending on the concentration of carbon defects—often in the experiment there is a carbon deficiency—have shown that the used method of synthesis of niobium carbide on diamond allows to obtain high-quality niobium carbide with a lattice parameter close to defect-free material.

“Calculations of the superconducting characteristics of niobium carbide showed a superconducting transition at a temperature of 19.4 K, which turned out to be close to the experimentally measured value,” Kvashnin said. “The results also indicate the high quality of the experimentally obtained film.”

Quantum detection devices

Notably, the low concentration of defects in the obtained niobium carbide film leads to sufficiently high values of electron diffusion, compared to other niobium-based alloys. This, together with the observed superconducting characteristics, is of practical interest for quantum detection devices.

The researchers proved that the obtained niobium carbide layer has superconductive characteristics. If this film is applied to the surface of the diamond, it will be possible to create super-sensitive detectors due to its high thermal conductivity. The high thermal conductivity of diamond will help detect signals and it would happen much faster than with other materials.

Canadian miner Lucara said it will supply HB Antwerp with rough diamonds of 10.8 carats and above for 10 years from last December.

Lucara had terminated its relationship with HB Antwerp last September because of what it said was “a material breach of financial commitments”.

HB Antwerp declined to comment on the matter at the time and did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Monday.

Botswana, where Lucara mines diamonds at its Karowe project, has been reassessing plans to acquire 24% of HB Antwerp.

The two companies’ first diamond sales agreement was struck in 2020 and extended for 10 years in 2022.

Lucara said the purchase price for rough stones in its revised deal would be based on mutual agreement of the estimated value of polished diamonds, with a further payment based on actual achieved polished sales.

The pricing mechanism is expected to deliver regular cash flow, Lucara said.

“This partnership reflects our commitment to ensuring stability and sustainability in our operations,” said Lucara chief executive William Lamb.

(By Brian Benza and Felix Njini; Editing by David Goodman)

In a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, the scientists explain that the key to the device is a “microchiplet” made of diamond in which some of the diamond’s carbon atoms are replaced with atoms of tin. The team’s experiments indicate that the device, consisting of waveguides for the light to carry the quantum information, solves a paradox that has stymied the arrival of large, scalable quantum networks.

Quantum information in the form of quantum bits, or qubits, is easily disrupted by environmental noise, like magnetic fields, that destroys the information. So on one hand, it’s desirable to have qubits that don’t interact strongly with the environment. On the other hand, however, those qubits need to strongly interact with the light, or photons, key to carrying the information over distances.

The MIT and Cambridge researchers allow both by co-integrating two different kinds of qubits that work in tandem to save and transmit information. Further, the team reports high efficiencies in the transfer of that information.

“This is a critical step as it demonstrates the feasibility of integrating electronic and nuclear qubits in a microchiplet. This integration addresses the need to preserve quantum information over long distances while maintaining strong interaction with photons,” Dirk Englund, who led the research at MIT, said in a media statement. “This was possible through the combination of the strengths of the University of Cambridge and MIT teams.”

Working at the quantum scale

A computer bit can be thought of as anything with two different physical states, such as “on” and “off,” to represent zero and one. In the strange ultra-small world of quantum mechanics, a qubit “has the extra property that instead of being in just one of these two states, it can be in a superposition of the two states. So it can be in both of those states at the same time,” Jesús Arjona Martínez, co-author of the study, said.

Multiple qubits that are entangled, or correlated with each other, can share much more information than the bits associated with conventional computing. Hence the potential power of quantum computers.

Englund and his team explained that there are many kinds of qubits, but two common types are based on spin, or the rotation of an electron or a nucleus (left to right, or right to left). The new device involves both electronic and nuclear qubits.

A spinning electron, or electronic qubit, is very good at interacting with the environment, while the spinning nucleus of an atom, or nuclear qubit, is not. 

“We’ve combined a qubit that is well known for interacting easily with light with a qubit that is well known for being very isolated, and thus preserving information for a long time. By combining these two, we think we can get the best of both worlds,” Arjona Martínez said.

Like the solar system

The way it works is that the electron [electronic qubit] whizzing along in the diamond can get stuck at the tin defect and this electronic qubit can then transfer its information to the spinning tin nucleus, the nuclear qubit.

“The analogy I like to use is the solar system,” Isaac Harris, co-author of the paper, said. “You have the sun in the middle, that’s the tin nucleus, and then you have the earth going around it, and that’s the electron. We can choose to store the information in the direction of the earth’s rotation, that’s our electronic qubit. Or we can store the information in the direction of the sun, which rotates around its own axis. That’s the nuclear qubit.”

In general, then, light carries information through an optical fibre to the new device, which includes a stack of several tiny diamond waveguides that are each about 1,000 times smaller than a human hair. Several devices could then act as the nodes that control the flow of information in the quantum internet.

The work described in this study involved experiments with one device. 

“Eventually, however, there could be hundreds or thousands of these on a microchip,” Arjona Martínez said.

Harris noted that his theoretical work had predicted a strong interaction between the tin nucleus and the incoming electronic qubit. “It was ten times larger than we expected it to be, so I thought the calculation was probably wrong. Then the Cambridge team came along and measured it, and it was neat to see that the prediction was confirmed by the experiment.”

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists explain that their method will simplify the detection of diamond deposits. The process relies on the chemical composition of kimberlites, which occur only on very old continental blocks that have remained geologically unchanged for billions of years, predominantly in Canada, South America, central and southern Africa, Australia and Siberia.

According to the study’s lead author, Andrea Giuliani, olivine is a mineral that makes up around half of kimberlite rock and consists of varying proportions of magnesium and iron. The more iron olivine contains, the less magnesium it has and vice versa.

“In rock samples where the olivine was very rich in iron, there were no diamonds or only very few,” Giuliani, who has been studying the formation and occurrence of the gemstones since 2015, said in a media statement. “We started to collect more samples and data, and we always got the same result.”

His investigations ultimately confirmed that olivine’s iron-to-magnesium ratio is directly related to the diamond content of the kimberlite. Giuliani and his team took these findings back to De Beers, who had provided them with the kimberlite samples. The company was interested and provided the scientific study with financial support and asked the researchers not to publish the results for the time being.

A slow, repetitive process

In 2019, Giuliani moved from Melbourne to ETH Zurich and, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, began to look for explanations for the connection between olivine’s magnesium and iron content and the presence of diamonds.

With his new colleagues, he examined how the process of metasomatism, which takes place in the earth’s interior, affects diamonds. In metasomatism, hot liquids and melts attack the rock. The minerals present in the rock react with the substances dissolved in the fluids to form other minerals.

The geologists analyzed kimberlite samples that contained olivines with a high iron content—and hence no diamonds. They discovered that olivine becomes richer in iron in the places where melt penetrates the lithospheric mantle and changes the composition of mantle rocks significantly. And it is precisely in this layer, at a depth of around 150 kilometres, that diamonds are present.

The infiltration of the melt that makes olivine richer in iron destroys diamonds. If, on the other hand, no or only a small amount of melt from underlying layers penetrates the lithospheric mantle and thus no metasomatism takes place, the olivine contains more magnesium—and the diamonds are preserved.

“Our study shows that diamonds remain intact only when kimberlites entrain mantle fragments on their way up that haven’t extensively interacted with previous melt,” Giuliani said.

A key point is that kimberlites don’t normally reach the earth’s surface in one go. Rather, they begin to rise as a liquid mass, pick up fragments of the mantle on the way, cool down and then get stuck. In the next wave, more melt swells up from the depths, entrains components of the cooled mantle, rises higher, cools, and gets stuck. This process can happen multiple times.

“It’s a real stop-and-go process of melting, ascent and solidification. And that has a destructive effect on diamonds,” Giuliani noted. If, on the other hand, conditions prevail that allow kimberlites to rise directly to the surface, then this is ideal for the preservation of the gemstones.

De Beers is already using olivine analysis

Olivine analysis is as reliable as previous prospecting methods, which are mainly based on the minerals clinopyroxene and garnet. However, the new method is easier and faster: it takes only a few analyses to get an idea of whether a given kimberlite field has diamonds or not.

“The great thing about this new method is not only that it’s simpler, but also that it finally allows us to understand why the previous methods worked,” Giuliani said. “De Beers is already using this new method.”

The deal would value the Belgian company, founded in 2020, at $275 million, according to Reuters calculations. HB Antwerp recorded $251 million revenue in 2022, according to its website.

During talks for a new sales contract with De Beers in March, Botswana announced a deal to buy a 24% stake in HB Antwerp and to supply it with rough diamonds for five years via the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).

Finance minister Peggy Serame did not say how much the HB Anterp shareholding was expected to cost in her 2024/25 national budget speech on Monday, but expenditure estimates published on Wednesday and seen by Reuters show the figure to be 890 million pula.

The diamond market is struggling to recover from the impact of excessive inventories last year following weak demand and pressure from lab-grown gems.

The proposed deal came under the spotlight in September when Lucara Diamond Corp, which owns Karowe mine in Botswana, terminated its sales agreement with HB Antwerp, citing financial irregularities.

HB Antwerp Botswana spokesperson Bonjo Mathumo said the company would not comment on the deal.

Botswana has said the deal was an opportunity for the country to benefit from the money to be made from the diamond downstream industry, including cutting and polishing, a prospect that Masisi says it did not have under previous agreements with De Beers.

Botswana and De Beers last June agreed on a ten-year diamond sales agreement, which will lift ODC’s share of Debswana output to 30% from 25% previously, increasing to 40% in five years’ time and eventually 50% by the end of the new contract.

($1 = 13.6799 pulas)

(By Brian Benza; Editing by Nelson Banya and Barbara Lewis)

The pacts between the parties build on exploration contracts signed in 2022, which marked the return of De Beers to the country it left in 2012.

“We believe this is a real step forward in our cooperation,” chief executive Al Cook said during the signing ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa.

Among the agreements inked by De Beers, a unit of Anglo American (LON: AAL), there is one with Angola’s national diamond trading company Sodiam, which seeks to ensure the use of best practice on sorting and processing rough diamonds mined in the country.

Other joint activities include reviewing several kimberlite deposits to reassess their economic attractiveness through the application of new De Beers technologies and promoting transparency and traceability of diamonds produced in Angola. The parties will also work together to identify opportunities to build local community capacity by leveraging De Beers’ Building Forever sustainability framework.

Angola has long been a hot spot for diamond finds, but most companies, including De Beers, left in the early 2000s.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) came back to Angola in 2019, on condition to own 75% of the initial phase of any mine developed with Endiama. The contract lets Endiama boost its stake to 49% in the future.

Angola – the world’s sixth-largest diamond producer according to Kimberley Process statistics – generated 8.7 million carats in 2022, down from 9.3 million carats the previous year.

The accident took place on Jan 26, 2003 at the Diavik mine, which is located about 200 km (125 miles) south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, the local Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) said.

The WSCC has filed a case against the mine and the next step is a hearing on March 19 at the criminal court in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. The WSCC revealed the case in a statement issued on Friday.

“Diavik Diamond Mine is charged with multiple counts alleging violations of the Mine Health and Safety Act, including failure to implement and maintain safe work practices, and failure to take every reasonable measure to protect the health and safety of their employees, as well as other offences,” it said, but gave no details of the accident.

Rio Tinto said in a statement on Monday that Diavik took the health and safety of its employees very seriously. It declined to comment further, given the criminal case.

Six people died last month after a small plane carrying Rio Tinto workers crashed near Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, shortly after taking off for Diavik. Four of those were employees of Rio Tinto.

In 2022, Rio Tinto reported zero fatalities and had an all injury frequency rate – the number of all injuries per 2,000,000 hours worked – of 0.40, the same as the previous year.

The company’s annual report said that in 2022, the number of potentially fatal incidents rose to 19 compared to 16 in 2021.

(By Divya Rajagopal; Editing by David Ljunggren and Nick Zieminski)

Switzerland will ban the import of Russian diamonds in line with the latest round of European Union sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, the government said on Wednesday.

Bern has agreed to adopt the 12th round of sanctions implemented by the EU in December, with measures effective from Feb. 1, as it has with all previous rounds since the start of the war almost two years ago.

Among those measures is a phased ban on the purchase and import of Russian diamonds.

“Switzerland thus joins the measures agreed at the G7 summit on 6 December 2023 to deprive Russia of this important revenue stream,” the government said in a statement.

Import bans are also being introduced on other goods that generate revenue for Russia, including pig iron and liquid petroleum gas.

Switzerland said it was expanding its list of banned exports which could be used to strengthen Russia’ military and technology sectors. Exports of lithium batteries, motors for unmanned aerial vehicles, and machine tools and parts have also been added.

In the financial sector, Russian nationals and individuals living in Russia will be banned from controlling companies in Switzerland that provide crypto-asset services.

Switzerland has also placed an additional 147 individuals and companies under sanctions, taking the total to 1,422 individuals and 291 organizations.

(By John Revill; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Four passengers and two North Western Air Lease crew members died in the crash, Chief Coroner Garth Eggenberger said in a statement.

There was one survivor who was treated at the Fort Smith Health Centre before being taken to hospital in the provincial capital Yellowknife.

The plane had been travelling from Fort Smith to Rio Tinto’s Diavik Diamond Mine, located 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

Three Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons supported search and rescue efforts for the British Aerospace Jetstream aircraft, which was found near the Slave River after losing contact shortly after take-off.

The aircraft is registered to Northwestern Air Lease, which is headquartered in Fort Smith, a small town of 2,500 people. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Fort Smith’s mayor and council released a statement on Wednesday extending condolences to friends and family of those killed.

“These people are treasured members of our community and their loss touches everyone,” the statement said.

A team of investigators from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has been deployed to look into the accident.

Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said in a statement on Tuesday night that the company was devastated by the crash and would closely with authorities to find out exactly what happened.

(By Nia Williams; Editing by Franklin Paul, Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)

Revenue declined to $243.7 million from 2.7 million carats sold at an average value of $90 per carat compared with $297.3 million from the same amount sold at an average value of $112 per carat in 2022, the Toronto-based company said in a news release on Tuesday.

Sales suffered after India, the world’s largest gem cutter, imposed a two-month ban on diamond imports ending in December while China’s sluggish economy slowed buying by polishers and jewelry store restocking, Mountain Province said in reports this week and in November.

The mine, about 280 km northeast of Yellowknife, produced 5.6 million carats last year. It was the low end of a forecast for as much as 6.1 million carats after a mid-year processing halt. The stoppage lowered processing to 73% of capacity in the year’s first half and 84% in the second. Gahcho Kué nearly tripled ore processing during the fourth quarter compared to the year-ago period, making it the year’s strongest three months. 

“We expect to carry this momentum into 2024 notwithstanding some expected seasonal reduction in performance numbers in the early months due to cold weather,” president and CEO Mark Wall said in the release. “The market is now reopened and we continue to monitor it closely to maximise value from our sales pipeline.”

Mountain Province operates Gahcho Kué in a 49-51% partnership with Anglo American (LSE: AAL) unit De Beers. Mountain is one of the last junior diamond companies in Canada as deposits dry up nearly 30 years after the heyday of exploration across the country’s north. In recent years, De Beers shut its Snap Lake mine near Gahcho Kué and its Victor mine in northern Ontario.

More kimberlites

Still, Mountain has 1,130 sq. km of mineral claims around Gahcho Kué including the Kelvin kimberlite estimated to contain 8.5 million tonnes grading 1.6 carats per tonne at a value of $63 per carat for 13.62 million carats. Its Faraday 2 kimberlite is estimated to contain about 2 million tonnes grading 2.63 carats per tonne at a value of $140 per carat for 5.4 million carats.

De Beers, the largest diamond producer by value, is looking for demand in China to increase in the medium-term as the Asian giant weathers stock and property markets turmoil. Sanctions on Russian state producer Alrosa will impact supply and greater scrutiny of ethical production will gather pace, the miner said last year.

“Global rough diamond production is not expected to fully return to pre-Covid levels in carat volume in the foreseeable future,” De Beers said in a report, citing Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) 2020 closure of the Argyle mine in Australia cutting 10% of world output. “While there are several notable diamond projects on the horizon that may be able to fill the gap to some extent, these projects will take some time to reach full production.”

It said new diamond projects include Luaxe in Angola by Alrosa and state miner Endiama planning to hit full annual production in 2027 of about 8 million carats; De Beers’ Chidliak project on Baffin Island, Nunavut, for 1-2 million carats a year by an unspecified date; and Lucara Diamond’s (TSX: LUC) Karowe mine underground expansion in Botswana due to add less than 1 million carats a year by 2028.

In Russia, Alrosa is planning the Mir project for 3 million carats a year by 2032; the Maiskaya project for 2 million carats a year in 2025; and the Vodorazdelnye Galechniki project for less than 1 million carats a year by 2026, De Beers said.

Closures and output rollbacks are expected at several large mines that could cut 17-20 million carats of annual production by 2030, or about 15% of 2022’s world output, the miner said.

These include Rio Tinto’s Diavik and Burgundy Diamond Mines’ (ASX: BDM) Ekati in the Northwest Territories. Burgundy acquired Ekati when it purchased its former owner Arctic Canadian Diamond last March for $136 million. Closures are also expected at Alrosa’s Nyurbinskaya and Almazy-Anabara mines in Russia, De Beers said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a devolution agreement in the Nunavut capital Iqaluit with Premier P.J. Akeeagok, granting the territory the right to collect royalties that would otherwise go to the federal government.

Nunavut, a region of growing strategic importance as climate change makes shipping lanes and resources more accessible, covers 810,000 square miles (2.1 million square km) but has a population of only 40,000. An almost complete lack of infrastructure means operating costs are exorbitant.

“We can now bring decision-making about our land and waters home. It means that we, the people most invested in our homeland, will be the ones managing our natural resources,” Akeeagok said in a statement.

Challenges include harsh weather, lack of infrastructure, high costs, major social problems and a largely unskilled and undereducated Inuit aboriginal workforce.

Nunavut, created in 1999, was the only one of Canada’s three northern territories that had not negotiated devolution. Talks on the agreement started in October 2014.

Companies active in Nunavut include Agnico-Eagle Mines, operator of the territory’s only working gold mine.

Nunavut is home to some of the minerals critical for battery production. Canada has pledged billions in incentives to woo companies involved in all levels of the electric vehicle supply chain as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.

But operating mines can be a complex affair in Nunavut, where some communities are concerned about potential pollution.

In 2022, Ottawa rejected a request by Baffinland Iron Mine Corp – part-owned by ArcelorMittal – to double production at its Mary River iron ore mine in the north of Nunavut, citing the environmental impact.

In 2020, Canada rejected Shandong Gold Mining’s bid for an indebted local gold producer amid concerns about a Chinese state-owned entity operating in the Arctic.

(By Natalie Maerzluft and David Ljunggren; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

The industry almost came to a complete standstill in the second half of 2023 as the two biggest miners all but stopped supplies in a desperate attempt to stem a collapse in prices. While those efforts helped the market to pick up a bit, it’s unclear how much appetite trade buyers currently have.

To improve demand, De Beers cut prices by about 10% across the board at its first sale of this year — traditionally one of the largest — according to people familiar with the matter. The one-time monopoly made bigger cuts for some larger stones, with one category being lowered about 25%, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

The industry has been whipsawed since the start of the pandemic. It was one of the great winners as stuck-at-home shoppers turned to diamond jewelry and other luxury purchases. But demand quickly faded as economies reopened, leaving many in the trade holding excess stock that they’d paid too much for.

The cooldown rapidly escalated as the crucial US market wobbled under rising inflation. In addition, consumer confidence in key growth market China was hurt by a property crisis, while competition from lab-grown diamonds increased.

That left the industry with little choice but to curb supply. Russia’s Alrosa PJSC in September halted all sales for two months, and was followed by buyers in India — the dominant cutting and trading center — voluntarily banning imports.

De Beers allowed its customers to refuse all gems they’re contracted to buy for the last two sales of 2023, though didn’t cut its prices despite declines in the wider market. It has now removed that flexibility to reject stones, the people said.

A De Beers spokesman declined to comment.

De Beers typically reserves aggressive price cuts as a last resort. While it keeps pricing secret, the across-the-board cut this month is hefty. Outside of the early days of the pandemic, the last time the company made such significant price reductions was toward the end of 2019 amid an oversupply of stones.

Price cuts

The Anglo American Plc unit still wields considerable power in the rough-diamond market. It holds 10 sales each year in which the buyers — known as sightholders — generally have to accept the price and the quantities offered.

At this month’s sale, the biggest reduction in prices came in a category known as “select makeables” — diamonds between 2 and 4 carats that can be cut into smaller polished stones used in bridal rings and which are high quality, but not flawless.

Even after cutting prices for that category heavily last year, De Beers lowered them by another 25% this month, the people said. Those gem types have been badly hit by the growing popularity of synthetic diamonds — which themselves have slumped in price.

The first sale of the year is one of the most important as midstream buyers who cut and polish rough stones into jewelry restock after the crucial holiday period.

The key question is whether the latest price cuts will help build momentum. Prices started to rebound toward the end of last year as buyers who were short of stones and needed new stock to keep factories open fueled demand amid limited supplies.

(By Thomas Biesheuvel)

At the end of 2023, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners reached a combined $1.42 trillion, up a healthy, if far from spectacular $48.7 billion over the course of 2023. Mining’s top tier is also worth $330 billion less than in March 2022.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters and as a whole the majors performed fairly consistently last year despite geopolitical and market turmoil, but within the ranking, 2023 fortunes were made and lost over what seemed like days.

The forced closure of one of the world’s biggest copper mines – and the subsequent collapse of owner First Quantum Minerals stock – served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama root canal

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

That mining cobre is at the nexus of the green energy transition is clearly an irony lost on those trying to save the world.  FQM is seeking arbitration and completely winding down operations will take time, but a reopening of Cobre Panama is not on the cards. 

From 25th position in the ranking at the end of March 2022 and a valuation well above $20 billion, the November-December sell off saw FQM drop out of the top tier altogether, ending 2023 at number 58 with a market cap below $6 billion. 

Cobre Panama supplied more than 40% of the company’s revenue, and with nickel prices plummeting FQM has also been forced to suspend operations at its Raventhorpe mine in Australia. 

Amid the inevitable takeover rumours now in circulation, shares in the Vancouver-based company have rallied in 2024, but still not enough to reenter the top 50.

No. 12 with a bullet 

If 2023 was an annus horribilis for FQM it was mirabilis for Amman Mineral Internasional. Stock in the Indonesian firm surged by 269% from its July debut in Jakarta to reach a market capitalisation of more than $30 billion at the end of last year – and number 12 in the ranking. 

That valuation is quite an achievement on annual revenue of $2 billion no matter how fat margins are at the company’s Batu Hijau copper and gold mine.  Batu Hijau is the third largest mine worldwide in terms of copper equivalent output (but no match for Cobre Panama when it comes to the orange metal alone)  and has been in production since the turn of the millennium. Amman is also developing the adjacent Elang project on the island of Sumbawa. 

Amman Minerals’ ascent has minted at least six new billionaires and the stock appears to be building on its success in 2024, rising by double digits in January already.

Indonesia’s other major mining IPO, Harita Nickel, was on a different trajectory altogether. After listing in April and raising $672m, the company has had a tough go of it and the stock has shed more than 38% since then as nickel prices continue to decline.

Shiny gold, dull silver, tarnished PGMs

The price of gold hit an all-time record on December 1, 2023.  But bullion’s best ever level passed without the usual fanfare and despite bullish indications for 2024, gold mining stocks did not exactly storm the rankings of the most valuable miners.

Over the course of 2023 gold and royalty companies on the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners added a collective $20.8 billion in market cap. 

And judging by gold miners’ performance so far this year, gold above $2,000 is not providing enough support. Newmont is already down 17%, Barrick has shed 13% and Agnico Eagle shareholders are 9% poorer. 

The number of precious metals companies in the top 50 has also been relatively stable over the years. With Newmont’s absorption of Newcrest now complete, the open slot was taken up by Kinross, which spent a few years in the wilderness. 

Anglogold Ashanti was just edged out by Jiangxi Copper for position number 50 on the last trading days of 2023, but based on its performance so far in 2024 the London-listed company is already back among the top tier. Indeed Anglogold is the only major gold player in the black year to date.

Silver has not been able to ride gold’s coattails and the top 50 has not had a silver specialist for a few years after Fresnillo dropped out (now at #61) and while Pan American Silver has come close in recent years at the end of last year it made it to #58 only. 

The exit of platinum and palladium majors like Sibanye Stillwater and Impala Platinum, now both valued at less than $4 billion, made space for Royal Gold to reenter at 47 at the end of last year, up from 57th in 2022. 

After a dismal 2023, the sole remaining PGM specialist Anglo American Platinum looks likely to lose more ground this quarter as palladium and platinum prices continue to slide into the new year.

Not too tough at the top 

London-listed Anglo American has had a rough year in part due to its exposure to platinum group metals and control of AngloPlat, and is now valued at $30 billion after peaking at $70 billion in March 2021.  

Were it not for the London-listed company’s iron ore operations, the 40%-plus slump in share value may have been deeper. Rumours that Glencore may be sniffing around now that the Swiss behemoth’s bid for all of Teck Resources has soured is also keeping Anglo from falling further down the rankings .  

Investors in Anglo, with a history going back more than a hundred years on the South African gold and diamond fields, have had a particularly wild ride over the last few years. In January 2016, Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

Against expectations, iron ore seems to be holding above $120 a tonne, Chinese property bankruptcies and Beijing’s tepid stimulus response notwithstanding. 

Iron ore’s resilience despite Chinese troubles has also kept the share prices of the other diversified majors, which make their fattest profits from the steelmaking ingredient, from skidding. 

The top 10 mining companies have been able to keep their share of the total above 50% for a few years now. Not quite the magnificent seven, but size does matter in mining, particularly when access to capital is no longer a headache but a migraine. 

Expectations of another active year of M&A in the sector is likely to make the Top 50 top-heavier, especially now that it’s painfully obvious just how one-commodity companies like the lithium stocks can so easily be derailed. Coal miners’ strong 2023 suggests there are still exceptional minerals that prove the rule.   

Lithium losers 

After defying gravity early on, the combined losses for lithium miners in the top 50 climbed to nearly $30 billion in market cap over the 12 month period. Four counters occupy the worst performance table for 2023. 

The M&A drama surrounding Liontown, Albermarle and Hancock Prospecting turned out to be a soap opera and Chile’s move to take control of its lithium industry now appears far less consequential than feared.

Despite the precipitous decline in lithium prices in 2023, after hitting all time highs above $80,000 a tonne in November 2022, none of the battery metal miners’ stock performance was dire enough to drop out of the Top 50.

The merger of Livent and Allkem to form Arcadium Lithium could in fact up lithium mining’s representation in the ranking to seven should Pilbara Minerals’ January bleeding be stanched. But with lithium prices far from stabilizing, the battery metal’s presence in the top 50 may fade further. 

Pilbara Minerals, which unlike its peers was still able to show share price gains last year,  joined the Top 50 last year, bringing the number of companies based in the Western Australia capital to five, surpassing the tally of Vancouver, BC as the top home base in the ranking. 

With the exit of First Quantum, three mining companies in the top 50 call Vancouver home while the return of Kinross saw the ranks of Toronto-headquartered miners move back up to four.  

Nuclear options

Uranium prices more than doubled during 2023 and recently hit triple digits for the first time in 16 years. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel comes after a decade in the doldrums following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Canada’s Cameco made the best quarterly performer list once again in Q4 and after doubling in market worth in 2023.  The Saskatoon-based company now sits at no 23 in the ranking after jumping 22 places since end-2022.    

The value of shares in Kazatomprom, the world number one uranium producer, topped $10 billion at the end of 2023, placing it at position 38.  Until last year the state-owned Kazakh company was outside earshot of the Top 50 since its dual-listing in London and Astana in 2018.  

None of the smaller uranium companies are likely to pierce the top 50 by themselves, but combinations among the rank and file may edge in when countries aiming to ditch fossil fuels stop thinking they can have their yellowcake and eat it too.

*NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, Morningstar, GoogleFinance, company reports. Trading data from primary-listed exchange at December 28 2023 to January 2, 2024 where applicable, currency cross-rates January 2, 2024. 

Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining, which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining still makes up a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

Gem Diamonds said on Thursday it had unearthed a 295-carat rough stone at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, adding to a long list of diamonds over 100 carats found at the operation over the past two years.

The prolific mine is one of the world’s ten largest diamond operations by revenue. At 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s most elevated diamond mines.

Canada’s Lucara recovered a 166-carat rough in the Coarse X-Ray Transmission unit at its Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. The company said the precious stone was sourced from direct milling of ore from the South lobe of the mine.

Lucara’s latest find is the 328th diamond over 100 carats found at Karowe since it began operations in 2012. Chief executive William Lamb said  the recovery further supported the economic rationale for investing in the underground expansion project to extend the mine’s life to at least 2040.

The recoveries bring some positive news into a market affected by ongoing weak conditions, with prices for wholesale polished diamonds dropping 20% last year, which also dragged down rough diamond prices. 

Among the findings outlined in Gemfields’ second Chinese consumer report, the miner says that, in terms of awareness, ruby is nearly twice as popular as second-place sapphire. When considering its desirability and purchase, the red gemstone is nearly three times more popular than second-place emerald.

Chief executive Sean Gilbertson said the new research shows “an unquenchable thirst” for rubies amidst post-pandemic uncertainties, representing a unique opportunity for gem producers.

“Rubies are said to symbolize protection, prosperity and passion, and it is clear from this market research that Chinese consumers are passionate about rubies,” Gemfields’ marketing and communications director, Emily Dungey, said.

The report suggests Chinese consumers have a particular preference for rubies, which is linked to the aesthetic symbolism of the gemstones in their culture. When asked “What does ruby mean to you?”, the most popular responses of “wealth and prosperity” (31%) and “tasteful” (29%) were closely followed by “very Chinese” (28%), with respondents sharing that they see ruby as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture and the embodiment of “new Chinese” aesthetics, which is suitable for incorporation into everyday new Chinese dressing style, the report says.

The research indicates potential for innovative ruby product applications, such as personalization and customization.

The report also identifies three groups of potential ruby consumers. The first group is Neo-Socialites, who are creative, confident and sociable, most of them are male entrepreneurs and executives, and rubies are seen to be a symbol of their social status. The second group, Aesthetic Appreciators, are those who enjoy an elegant lifestyle and have a wide range of hobbies. This group is mostly made up by young women in first-tier cities. The third group is Chinese Culture Devotees, most of whom live in historic cities such as Beijing and Chengdu. This segment appreciates the collector’s value of rubies and the possibilities of fusing rubies with traditional Chinese styles.

Gemfields notes that while the China market demonstrates a high level of interest towards rubies, there is a knowledge gap with a strong demand for greater transparency around important topics such as pricing, certification, mining and processing. 

“Current information mainly comes from brands and specialty jewellery influencers on social media – appraisers, designers, brand sales staff and celebrity styling,” the miner said.

Gemfields owns and operates the Montepuez mine in Mozambique, which is the world’s richest known ruby deposit. It also has the Kagem emerald mine, in Zambia, which provides more than one-fifth of the world’s green gemstones.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, an international team of scientists explains that earlier work on X-ray lasers discovered that diamonds should form from carbon compounds in the interior of the large gas planets because of the high pressure prevailing there. These would then sink further into the interior of the planets as a rain of precious stones from the higher layers.

However, a recent experiment at the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility (XFEL) has now shown that the formation of diamonds from carbon compounds already starts at lower pressures and temperatures than assumed. For the gas planets, this means that diamond rain already forms at a lower depth than thought.

Diamond rain would also be possible on gas planets that are smaller than Neptune and Uranus and are called “mini-Neptunes.” Such planets do not exist in our solar system, but they do occur as exoplanets outside of it.

On its way from the outer to the inner layers of the planets, the diamond rain can entrain gas and ice, causing currents of conductive ice. Currents of conductive fluids act as a kind of dynamo through which the magnetic fields of planets are formed.

“The diamond rain probably has an influence on the formation of the complex magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune,” lead researcher Mungo Frost said in a media statement.

Frost and his colleagues used a plastic film made from the hydrocarbon compound polystyrene as a carbon source. Under very high pressure, diamonds are formed from the foil.

At the European XFEL, the researchers generated the high pressure and the temperature of more than 2,200 degrees Celsius that prevail inside the icy gas giants with the help of diamond stamp cells and lasers.

The stamp cells function like a mini vice in which the sample is squeezed between two diamonds. With the help of X-ray pulses, the time, conditions and sequence of the formation of the diamonds in the stamp cell can be precisely observed.

“Through this international collaboration, we have made great progress at the European XFEL and gained remarkable new insights into icy planets,” Frost said.

The decision comes amid ongoing weak conditions in the global diamond market, which saw prices for wholesale polished diamonds dropped by a fifth in 2023, dragging down with them rough diamonds. 

The Anglo American (LON: AAL) unit and the government of Botswana, which jointly own Debswana Diamond, said the investment will fund establishing a drilling platform to facilitate sampling of kimberlite pipes. It would also allow developing essential infrastructure to support the project development

Initial works at Jwaneng underground will begin in May this year and will be developed in two further phases, Phase 1 mining and Phase 2 mining. The gradual development is meant to support long-term future production at the mine in an environment of tightening long-term diamond supply, De Beers said.

“The global supply of natural diamonds is falling, so moving forward with the Jwaneng underground project creates new value for investors,” CEO Al Cook said in the statement.

Extending the productive life of Jwaneng, the world’s richest mine in term of diamonds value, has been in the cards since 2010. Debswana said in 2018 it was in the final stages of a $3 billion project to extend the lifespan of the mine to 2024, and noted it was planning a further investment to keep the mine running for 11 years from 2024.

The Jwaneng underground mine is forecast to produce as much as 9 million carats per year. Since 1982, when it began operations, it has produced an annual average of almost 11 million carats per year.

Debswana is a major contributor to the national economy of Botswana, making up a fifth of the country’s GDP.  It is also critical to De Beers as it contributes nearly half the carats the company produces each year.

After months of negotiations, De Beers agreed last year to a new diamond sales pact with Botswana, which will see the government’s share of diamonds from the Debswana joint venture gradually increase to 50% over the next decade.

In a media statement, Ibram said that the main goal of the plan is to avoid cargo theft by organized crime.

The agreement signed between the government and the miners contemplates the preparation of studies and diagnoses that would lead to the formulation of strategies to confront the activities of organized crime impacting gold and precious metals operations.

The work will be carried out by the National Secretariat of Public Safety (SENASP) together with communities and local authorities. The idea is that the strategies developed incorporate defence mechanisms against criminal activities, and encourage the exchange of information between mining companies and municipal authorities, states and federations.

“Mining companies represent a strategic sector of the Brazilian economy and an important part of the trade balance,” Ricardo Cappelli, Minister of Justice and Public Safety, said at the event where the agreement was signed. “Security is one of the pillars for Brazil to attract investments.”

Also involved in this joint effort are other sectors, such as banks and cash/valuables-in-transit companies. 

The new protocol will focus on some 50 Brazilian municipalities where gold and diamonds are extracted, and whose total population adds up to 700,000 people. 

The pact also involves the dissemination of security and prevention measures for the residents of these areas.

“It only takes a few seconds for criminals to put an end to the efforts of long-term investments made by mining companies in their projects, which generate several benefits for the country and Brazilians,” Ibram’s vice-president, Fernando Azevedo, said. “This situation should not continue in the national territory.”

“In line with the diamond ban we have introduced with the 12th package of sanctions, the EU today lists Alrosa, the largest diamond mining company in the world, and its CEO,” EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on social media platform X.

In line with the diamond ban we have introduced with the 12th package of #sanctions, the EU today lists Alrosa, the largest diamond-mining company in the world & its CEO.

This is part of our coordinated efforts at @G7 level to deprive Russia of this important revenue source. https://t.co/FatCbq4Iit

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) January 3, 2024

Last month, G7 nations announced a direct ban on Russian diamonds starting Jan. 1, 2024. This will be followed by phased-in restrictions on indirect imports of Russian gems from around March 1. A new system to trace the origin of the gems will be introduced in September.

“This is part of our coordinated efforts at G7 level to deprive Russia of this important revenue source,” Borrell added.

Founded in 1992, Alrosa now accounts for over 90% of all Russian diamond production.

In total, the EU’s restrictive measures concerning actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine now encompass nearly 1,950 individuals and entities.

Alrosa did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

(With files from Reuters)

A year where the gold price sets an all-time record should be unalloyed good news for the mining and exploration industry, which despite all the buzz surrounding battery metals and the energy transition still represents the backbone of the junior market.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters, but the forced closure of one of the biggest copper mines to come into production in recent decades served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama shuts down giant copper mine

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

FQM’s latest statement on Friday said Panama’s government hasn’t provided a legal basis to the Vancouver-based company for pursuing the closure plan, a plan that the industries ministry of the central American nation said will only be presented in June next year.

FQM has filed two notices of arbitration over the closure of the mine, which has not been operating since protesters blocked access to its shipping port in October. However, arbitration would not be the company’s preferred outcome, said CEO Tristan Pascall.

In the aftermath of the unrest, FQM has said it should have better communicated the value of the $10 billion mine to the wider public, and will now spend more time engaging with Panamanians ahead of a national election next year. FQM shares have bounced in the past week, but is still trading more than 50% below the high hit during July this year.

Projected copper deficit evaporates

Cobre Panama’s shutdown and unexpected operational disruptions forcing copper mining companies to slash output has seen the sudden removal of around 600,000 tons of expected supply would, moving the market from a large expected surplus into balance, or even a deficit.

The next couple of years were supposed to be a time of plenty for copper, thanks to a series of big new projects starting up around the world.

The expectation across most of the industry was for a comfortable surplus before the market tightens again later this decade when surging demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure is expected to collide with a lack of new mines.

Instead, the mining industry has highlighted how vulnerable supply can be — whether due to political and social opposition, the difficulty of developing new operations, or simply the day-to-day challenge of pulling rocks up from deep beneath the earth.

Lithium price routed on supply surge

The price of lithium was decimated in 2023, but predictions for next year are far from rosy. Lithium demand from electric vehicles is still growing rapidly, but the supply response has overwhelmed the market.

Global lithium supply, meanwhile, will jump by 40% in 2024, UBS said earlier this month, to more than 1.4 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Output in top producers Australia and Latin America will rise 22% and 29% respectively, while that in Africa is expected to double, driven by projects in Zimbabwe, the bank said.

Chinese production will also jump 40% in the next two years, said UBS, driven by a major CATL project in southern Jiangxi province.

The investment bank expects Chinese lithium carbonate prices could fall by more than 30% next year, dipping as low as 80,000 yuan ($14,800) per tonne in 2024, averaging at around 100,000 yuan, equivalent to production costs in Jiangxi, China’s biggest producing region of the chemical.

Lithium assets still in high demand

In October, Albemarle Corp. walked away from its $4.2 billion takeover of Liontown Resources Ltd., after Australia’s richest woman built up a blocking minority and effectively scuppered one of the largest battery-metals deals to date.

Eager to add new supply, Albemarle had pursued its Perth-based target for months, eying its Kathleen Valley project — one of Australia’s most promising deposits. Liontown agreed to the US company’s “best and final” offer of A$3 a share in September — a near 100% premium to the price before Albemarle’s takeover interest was made public in March.

Albemarle had to contend with the arrival of combative mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, as her Hancock Prospecting steadily built up a 19.9% stake in Liontown. Last week, she became the single largest investor, with enough clout to potentially block a shareholder vote on the deal.

In December, SQM teamed up with Hancock Prospecting to make a sweetened A$1.7 billion ($1.14 billion) bid for Australian lithium developer Azure Minerals, the three parties said on Tuesday.

The deal would give the world’s no.2 lithium producer SQM a foothold in Australia with a stake in Azure’s Andover project and a partnership with Hancock, which has rail infrastructure and local experience in developing mines.

Chile, Mexico take control of lithium

This week Chile’s President Gabriel Boric hailed the formation of a new government-controlled lithium partnership that fuses assets of state-run Codelco with private miner SQM, as the leftist leader advances his push for greater public control over the battery metal. 

SQM said it would partner with copper giant Codelco for the future development and production of the metal in the Atacama salt flat, in a tie-up set to kick off in 2025 and run through 2060.

The deal gives Codelco majority control in line with the president’s plans announced in April to strengthen state control of lithium to generate more broad-based benefits from surging demand and to allow only public-private partnerships to participate in its exploitation.

For much of the year, the firms had been locked in talks over the future of lithium mining and production in the salt flat, located in Chile’s north and the home to 90% of the nation’s lithium reserves. The South American country has the world’s largest proven lithium reserves.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in February signed a decree handing over responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry.

Lopez Obrador urged the private sector to work with the new state miner, saying the size of the investment needed means the government needs partners.

But analysts argue that companies are more likely to focus near-term investments in Chile or Argentina’s sprawling salt flats, where industries are more established and policies more market-friendly.

In August, Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng said Mexico’s mining authorities had issued a notice to its local subsidiaries indicating nine of its concessions had been terminated.

Gold to build on record-setting year

The New York futures price of gold set an all-time high at the beginning of December and looks set to surpass the peak going into the new year. 

London’s gold price benchmark hit an all-time high of $2,069.40 per troy ounce at an afternoon auction on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of $2,067.15 set in August 2020, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said.

“I can think of no clearer demonstration of gold’s role as a store of value than the enthusiasm with which investors across the world have turned to the metal during the recent economic and geopolitical turmoils,” said LMBA’s chief executive officer Ruth Crowell. 

JPMorgan predicted a new record back in July but expected the new high to occur in the second quarter of 2024. The basis of JPMorgan’s optimism for 2024 – falling US interest rates – remains intact:

“The bank has an average price target of $2,175 an ounce for bullion in the final quarter of 2024, with risks skewed to the upside on a forecast for a mild US recession that’s likely to hit sometime before the Fed starts easing.”

Even as gold climbed new peaks, exploration spending on the precious metal dipped. A study published in November overall mining exploration budgets fell this year for the first time since 2020, dropping 3% to $12.8 billion at the 2,235 companies that allocated funds to find or expand deposits.

Despite the sparkling gold price, gold exploration budgets, which historically have been driven more by the junior mining sector than any other metal or mineral, dropped by 16% or $1.1 billion year-on-year to just under $6 billion, representing 46% of the global total. 

That’s down from 54% in 2022 amid higher spending on lithium, nickel and other battery metals, a surge in spending on uranium and rare earths and an uptick for copper. 

Mining’s year of M&A, spin-offs, IPOs, and SPAC deals

In December, speculation about Anglo American (LON: AAL) becoming the target of a takeover by a rival or a private equity firm mounted, as weakness in the shares of the diversified miner persisted.

If Anglo American doesn’t turn operations around and its share price continues to lag, Jefferies analysts say they can’t “rule out the possibility that Anglo is involved in the broader trend of industry consolidation,” according to their research note.

In October, Newcrest Mining shareholders voted strongly in favour of accepting the roughly $17 billion buyout bid from global gold mining giant Newmont Corporation.

Newmont (NYSE: NEM) plans to raise $2 billion in cash through mine sales and project divestments following the acquisition. The acquisition brings the company’s value to around $50 billion and adds five active mines and two advanced projects to Newmont’s portfolio.

Breakups and spin-offs were also a big part of 2023 corporate developments.

After being rebuffed several times in its bid to buy all of Teck Resources, Glencore and its Japanese partner are in a better position to bring the $9 billion bid for the diversified Canadian miner’s coal unit to a close. Glencore CEO Gary Nagle’s initial bid for the entire company faced stiff opposition from Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and from the premier of British Columbia, where the company is based.

Vale (NYSE: VALE) is not seeking new partners for its base metals unit following a recent equity sale, but could consider an IPO for the unit within three or four years, CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said in October.

Vale recruited former Anglo American Plc boss Mark Cutifani in April to lead an independent board to oversee the $26-billion copper and nickel unit created in July when the Brazilian parent company sold 10% to Saudi fund Manara Minerals.

Shares in Indonesian copper and gold miner, PT Amman Mineral Internasional, have surged more than fourfold since listing in July and are set to keep rising after its inclusion in major emerging market indexes in November.

Amman Mineral’s $715 million IPO was the largest in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy this year and counted on strong demand by global and domestic funds.

Not all dealmaking went smoothly this year.

Announced in June, a $1 billion metals deal by blank-cheque fund ACG Acquisition Co to acquire a Brazilian nickel and and a copper-gold mine from Appian Capital, was terminated in September.

The deal was backed by Glencore, Chrysler parent Stellantis and Volkswagen’s battery unit PowerCo through an equity investment, but as nickel prices slumped there was a lack of interest from minority investors at the stage of the $300 million equity offering which ACG planned as part of the deal.

Talks in 2022 to acquire the mines also fell through after bidder Sibanye-Stillwater pulled out. That transaction is now the subject of legal proceedings after Appian filed a $1.2 billion claim against the South African miner.

Uranium upsurge

In late November uranium prices scaled $80 per pound for the first time in 15 years, driven by a resurgence in demand for nuclear power and supply disruptions.

Global yellowcake supply might reach 145 million lb. this year or next according to the World Nuclear Association. But annual demand is already at 180 million lb. and the industry group expects it to nearly double to 300 million lb. by 2040.

Some 60 nuclear plants are under construction globally and more are planned. Countries like Germany and Japan that considered phasing them out are reversing course.

Activity in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca uranium hotspot is intensifying. NexGen received environmental approval for its Rook I project in November, the province’s first OK for such a project in two decades. Denison Mines released a feasibility study for its Wheeler River project before investing in junior explorer F3 Uranium’s Patterson Lake North property.

Also, IsoEnergy took over Consolidated Uranium in September. Uranium Energy spent C$570 million over the past two years buying Uranium One, UEX Corp. and Rio Tinto’s Roughrider project. Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners in October closed their deal to buy Westinghouse’s nuclear plant construction unit for $7.9 billion.

Nickel nosedive

In April, Indonesia’s PT Trimegah Bangun Persada, better known as Harita Nickel, raised 10 trillion rupiah ($672 million) in what was then Indonesia’s largest initial public offering of the year. 

Harita Nickel’s IPO quickly turned sour for investors, however, as prices for the metal entered a steady and long decline. Nickel is the worst performer among the base metals, nearly halving in value after starting 2023 trading above $30,000 a tonne.

Next year is not looking great for the devil’s copper either with top producer Nornickel predicting a widening surplus due to lacklustre demand from electric vehicles and a ramp-up in supply from Indonesia, which also comes with a thick layer of cobalt:

“…due to the continuing destocking cycle in the EV supply chain, a greater share of non-nickel LFP batteries, and a partial shift from BEV to PHEV sales in China. Meanwhile, the launch of new Indonesian nickel capacities continued at a high pace.” 

Palladium also had a rough year, down by more than a third in 2023 despite a late charge from multi-year lows hit at the start of December. Palladium was last trading at $1,150 an ounce.

China flexes its critical mineral muscle

In July China announced it will clamp down on exports of two obscure yet crucial metals in an escalation of the trade war on technology with the US and Europe.

Beijing said exporters will need to apply for licenses from the commerce ministry if they want to start or continue to ship gallium and germanium out of the country and will be required to report details of the overseas buyers and their applications.

China is overwhelmingly the top source of both metals — accounting for 94% of gallium supply and 83% of germanium, according to a European Union study on critical raw materials this year. The two metals have a vast array of specialist uses across chipmaking, communications equipment and defence.

In October, China said it would require export permits for some graphite products to protect national security. China is the world’s top graphite producer and exporter. It also refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material that is used in virtually all EV battery anodes, which is the negatively charged portion of a battery.

US miners said China’s move underscores the need for Washington to ease its own permit review process. Nearly one-third of the graphite consumed in the United States comes from China, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents auto supply chain companies.

In December, Beijing banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets on Thursday, adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for use in electric vehicles, wind turbines and electronics.

While Western countries are trying to launch their own rare earth processing operations, the ban is expected to have the biggest impact on so-called “heavy rare earths,” used in electric vehicle motors, medical devices and weaponry, where China has a virtual monopoly on refining.

GaN transistors are high-power, high-frequency semiconductor devices used in mobile data and satellite communication systems.

In a paper published in the journal Small, the scientists explain that with the increasing miniaturization of semiconductor devices, problems arise such as increases in power density and heat generation that can affect the performance, reliability, and lifetime of these devices. Therefore, effective thermal management is crucial. 

Diamond, which has the highest thermal conductivity of all natural materials, is an ideal substrate material but has not yet been put to practical use due to the difficulties of bonding diamond to GaN elements.

Their novel technology, however, has proven to have more than twice the heat dissipation performance of transistors of the same shape fabricated on a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate. 

To maximize the high thermal conductivity of diamonds, the team integrated a 3C-SiC layer, a cubic polytype of silicon carbide, between GaN and diamond. This technique significantly reduces the thermal resistance of the interface and improves heat dissipation.

“This new technology has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and potentially revolutionize the development of power and radio frequency electronics with improved thermal management capabilities,” lead researcher Jianbo Liang said in a media statement.