News: Diamond market quiet over Passover and Easter holidays. Steady US demand for 1 to 1.50 ct. sizes supporting the trade, but dealer prices continue to soften. US retail solid; jewelers expecting strong summer wedding season. Dealers cautious due to Russia crisis and China Covid-19 lockdown. Rough trading slow. Uncertainty surrounds upcoming Alrosa sale (April 26 to 29). Long gap until next De...Read More
Petropavlovsk has been asked to immediately repay a US$201.0 million loan by Gazprombank, with another US$$87.1 million demanded by April 26.Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds' revenue rose in the third fiscal quarter amid the sale of high-value stones and continued strong prices for rough.Sales climbed 33% year on year to $140.6 million for the three months ending March 31, the company said Wednesday. At Petra's March tender, prices increased 38% on a like-for-like basis compared with the previous sale in December. The hike outweighed a 31% d...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today signed diamond-mining agreements with the government of Angola, signaling its return to the country after more than two decades. Both sides appear to be patching up a "difficult" relationship, after Angola halted all diamond contracts in 2000 and granted a monopoly to Sodiam, the newly-created, state-run company.De Beers went on to file arbitration proceedi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production at the Diavik diamond mine in Canada slipped in the first quarter amid "significant" impacts from the coronavirus pandemic, owner Rio Tinto reported Wednesday.Output fell 2% year on year to 991,000 carats for the three months ending March 31. Production was 14% lower than the previous quarter. During the period, the availability of ore was lower than the year before as...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Kimberley Process faces criticism for failing to act on Russian diamonds, in a hard-hitting report by a Belgium-based independent research institute."Following several failed reform attempts, the Kimberley Process still looks at conflict through a 20-year-old lens," says Hans Merket, (pictured) researcher for the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) in a report entitl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Australia's diamond industry is to be revived with the launch of Burgundy branded gems, with price tags of up to US$7.5m.It hasn't produced diamonds since the closure of the iconic Argyle mine, in November 2020, but Ellendale, famous for its yellow gems, is due to resume operations by the end of the year.Perth-based Burgundy, which now owns the deposit, will mine, polish...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A New York jeweler has been charged with laundering money for violent gang members.Stanislav "Steve" Yakubov, allegedly acted as a fence for armed attackers who stole watches and jewelry worth $2m in a series of assaults on jewelers near their homes in New York and New Jersey.He was arrested last month and has since been indicted in Manhattan Federal Court on allegations that he bo...Read More
The Q1 production fell 38% year-on-year to 15.9Mlb CuEq, which Sierra blamed mainly on a 50% decrease in throughput at Bolivar mine in Mexico, in conjunction with lower-grade ore. "An improvement is expected on a quarterly basis, in particular during the second half of the year, due to the full turn-around effort currently underway," Sierra's CEO Luis Marchese said. He said that the turn...Read More
Historic assays build hype for Alicanto at SalaSPONSOREDalicanto mineralsMakuutu magnetises support for Ionic Rare EarthsSPONSOREDionic rare earthsFortuna backs West Africa for growthSPONSOREDfortuna silver minesWest Africa an improved opportunitySPONSOREDVale's iron ore production stood at 63.93 million tonnes in Q1, having dropped 6% year-on-year and 23% quarter-on-quarter. Pellet productio...Read More
Historic assays build hype for Alicanto at SalaSPONSOREDalicanto mineralsMakuutu magnetises support for Ionic Rare EarthsSPONSOREDionic rare earthsFortuna backs West Africa for growthSPONSOREDfortuna silver minesWest Africa an improved opportunitySPONSOREDShipments were 71.5 million tonnes, well below consensus estimates of 76.6Mt and missing RBC Capital Market's more conservative forecast of 73.1...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 19 points in pre-opening trade.Investors are watching for news on U.S. interest rate trends in the Beige Book to be released at 2:00 PM EDTThe Canadian Dollar added 0.06 to U.S.79.82 cents following release of the March Canadian Consumer Price Index at 8:30 AM EDT. On a year-over-year basis, consensus for March C...Read More
The value of global magnet rare earth oxide consumption will triple by 2035, from US$15.1 billion to US$46.2 billion, according to a new report published by Adamas Intelligence, an independent research group. It also predicts the lack of new primary and secondary supply sources for rare earth oxides in the market from 2022 onwards, coupled with the inability of existing producers to increase thei...Read More
Fortune Minerals (TSX: FT; OTC: FTMDF) has released results from 2021 drilling on its wholly-owned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper property, including the confirmation of a new mineralized zone.The NICO project consists of a proposed open-pit and underground mine, mill, and concentrator in the Northwest Territories, and a planned hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta's Industrial Heartland northe...Read More
SolGold (LSE: SOLG; TSX: SOLG) published on Wednesday a long-awaited prefeasibility study (PFS) for its Cascabel project in Ecuador, which states the asset has the potential to become one of the 20 largest copper-gold mines in South America.The miner, which owns 85% of Cascabel, estimated the project's EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, at US$1.2 billion o...Read More
When Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX; US-OTC: RDEXF) reported recent results from its 2022 Phase 1 exploration program, it confirmed the potential to expand the existing gold resources at its flagship, 100%-owned Wawa Gold Project in the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt of Ontario.Initial drilling and exploration at the Wawa Gold Project led to a discoveries of significant new gold mineralization at t...Read More
De Beers, the world's largest diamond miner by market capitalization, has inked two mineral investment deals with the Angolan government granting the company exploration rights for 35 years in the country's northeast.Each concession area will be held by a separate new joint venture between De Beers Group and Endiama, Angola's state-owned diamond company, the parties said.De Beers, a unit of Anglo...Read More
An international team of researchers from the U.S., Canada and South Africa found higher levels of silica dust in the lung tissue of present-day coal miners working in central Appalachia compared to the lung tissue of previous generations of coal miners.In a paper published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, scientists explain that though silica is safe in rock formations, breathing i...Read More
The Young Turks - Twitter, Released on 4/20/22"The Fed has literally not recognized its role in inflating this abundance of money that's available to the biggest market players, while the real economy is trying to scrounge to find products." @nomiprins joins @AnaKasparian on #tytlive to discuss #inflation. pic.twitter.com/nDuZbNyomN- The Young Turks (@TheYoungTurks) April 20, 2022 Fed, inf...Read More
Liberty and Finance, Released on 4/20/22 (Recorded on 4/19/22)As the Fed embarks on quantitative tightening, a liquidity crisis is extremely likely to follow, says portfolio manager Michael Pento. He expects investors will rush towards U.S. dollars, dumping other assets, even gold. Later, he sees a fast reversal in the precious metals as stagflation sets in.1:27 Overvalued assets8:50 Housing marke...Read More