Venetia diamond mine in South Africa is the largest diamond mine in the country, and also one of the largest diamond mines in the world. It is owned by the world's largest diamond company De Beers with the production of more than 3 million carats per year.
The first few months of 2013 weren't were good in terms of production for Venetia diamond mine because of
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| Rough diamonds. In the last few years there has been a reduction in rough diamond production. |
Majority of people knows that diamonds can cut glass. Why is that? This is primarily because diamonds are the hardest materials on our planet and because many diamonds are not suitable for jewelry purposes but are instead used for different other industrial purposes, including also for cutting glass.
However, diamonds aren't the only „stones“ that are capable to cut glass, glass can be for instance also cut with topaz and quartz.
In order to determine which material can cut glass and what can't we need to first know the data of these materials on Moh's scale of hardness. Diamonds as the hardest known substances have hardness set to 10 while glass (used on windows) has the hardness set on 5.5.
What this means is that any material that has a hardness within a range from 5,5 to 10 can be used to cut glass so diamond doesn't have to be necessarily only material used to cut glass.
In order to better understand this you need to learn the definition of hardness. Hardness refers to the resistance of certain mineral to scratching. It is a property by which minerals may be described relative to a standard scale of 10 minerals known as the Mohs scale of hardness.
Diamonds for instance can be scratched only by other diamonds because of their supreme hardness.
The long term outlook for diamond market still remains positive even despite certain pointers which suggest slowdown in diamond trade in the first half of this year. The temporarily slowdown might happen because of slow-growing U.S. diamond market, where last year sales were somewhat disappointing.
The rough diamond prices still lack stability and most expect this to last until the second half of the year, of course if global market manages to avoid yet another major recession.
The entire diamond industry wants to see higher rough diamond prices because they guarantee higher profits. The bottom has been passed for rough prices last summer but it will certainly take some time before U.S. market shows higher demand.
The best move to increase the rough diamond prices seems to be restricting their sale, and the final outcome of this tactic will depend on world's largest rough diamond sellers- De Beers and ALROSA.
The growing demand for diamond jewelry in Asian market also gives good long-term outlook for global diamond industry. The rapid growth of Asian diamond marker should also contribute to further growth of diamond prices, both rough and polished.
The fast-growing demand for diamonds in Asia should also give big boost to stagnating U.S. diamond market and lead the global diamond industry to the road of recovery.
The market analysts believe that diamond prices will rise in the next four years, being primarily driven by the strong demand for luxury goods in China, India and Middle East.
Bloomberg analysts predict that the average price of rough diamonds will likely rise 9% to $145 a carat next year, 1.4% in 2013 and 4.8% in 2014.
Since many major market analysts believe that the prices of gold will start to decline with the start of 2013 buying diamonds seems to be the next logical step for major investors, especially as there is an expanding middle class in China and India.
The Middle East diamond market also seems to be expanding. Diamonds were for instance together with gold the most traded non oil goods in United Arab Emirates in 2011, with Emirate traders importing $1.11 billion worth of diamonds through July 2011.
Emerging nations continue to drive the demand for diamonds, both rough and polished. According to the Rapaport Diamond Trade Index the prices of high-quality diamonds have increased 23% in 2011, the highest gain in the last five years, and they are expected to grow even further in 2012.
China and India are expected to account for more than 40% of global diamond demand by 2015. Asian diamond market will grow at a rapid pace, giving investors an almost a safe bet to make profits.
South Africa is one of top diamond exporters and diamond industry is certainly playing major role in South Africa's economy. In order to pay homage to country's diamond riches South Africa has recently opened diamond museum in the city of Capetown.
Many people are convinced that this museum will give huge boost to country tourism because many people are very fascinated with diamonds and everything they represent.
The main intention of this newly-founded museum is to show the people the entire journey of diamonds from rough diamonds found in the mines all the way to the beautiful cut diamonds that form the most beautiful jewelry.
This way people will not only be entertained but will also be able to educate themselves and learn useful things about diamonds and diamond jewelry.
Diamond museum is certainly an excellent idea, especially given South-African role in global diamond industry. Who knows, in few years time visitors will perhaps have the chance to take a look at some of the world's most famous diamonds. Many of them originate from South Africa.
Canadian diamonds with a trademark polar bear image are conquering the world. Why? Over the last decade or so Canadian diamonds have become a symbol for quality and they also don't have to fear from being tagged as blood diamonds like this is the case with some diamonds coming from Africa.
Canada, together with Russia and Botswana, belongs to top three diamond producers in the world. Canada's huge production of diamonds is set to continue for at least next two decades because Canada's major diamond mines such as Ekati, Diavik, Jericho and Snap Lake still have plenty diamonds left in them.
Even if these famous mines run out of diamonds in years to come this should not have significant impact on future diamond production in Canada because Canadian North should soon become a home for several new diamond mines.
Canadian diamond industry has given huge boost to Canadian economy by creating many new, permanent well paid jobs. According to current estimates there are close to 4,000 workers currently employed by the Canadian diamond industry. Some jobs, like for instance diamond cutters often achieve salaries over $100,000.
Canada also plans to use its wealth of diamonds for the purpose of tourism and has already announced plans to build a "diamond promotion centre" where visitors can see how the diamonds are made.
One thing is sure, diamonds are likely to play major role in Canada's economy for years to come.
The US economy is certainly not at its very best but this didn’t cause the stagnation of US diamond market. On the contrary, even despite relatively high prices, there is a constant demand for round, 0.75-carat to 2.00-carat, F-H diamonds.
Fancy colored diamonds are also becoming increasingly popular, mostly because it is very difficult to find enough high end fancies for the richest clientele as they are always in short supply.
Christmas is not that far away and this is traditionally a peak time for diamond sales in United States. It is expected that U.S. retail sales for the Christmas season 2011 could increase by 3 percent compared to 2010.
On the global level there have been several reports about very weak trade of polished diamonds from Belgium, Israel and India because of the extremely cautious economic environment marked by price uncertainties.
China is expecting to see significant sale rise in October 2011 because National Day Golden Week holiday begins on October 1. It is also expected that by end of this year diamonds will experience decrease in prices and this is the main reason why Chinese retail buyers weren't going for large inventory purchases.
The last quarter of 2011 will decide whether the year 2011 will receive good final grade for global diamond industry. Many experts expect it to be better than the previous year but with the global economic uncertainties there is still plenty of uncertainty in the air.
China is rapidly becoming world economic superpower which also means good news for global diamond industry. Why? Because China is huge new market with plenty of new billionaires that want the best stuff there is. And in terms of jewelry, diamonds are certainly the best stuff there is.
New Chinese billionaires are already being famous for spending absurdly huge amounts of money and they are ready to spend more money on jewelry than for instance American billionaires are. This is the well known business fact of making more sales to newer money than to older money, simply because new billionaires want to be known.
China seem to be particularly interested in colored diamonds, and they are currently the big hit among ultra rich Chinese. While the American market for diamonds is somewhat stagnating like the U.S. economy in general, China's diamond market is expanding at a rapid rate. Some diamond experts believe it is only matter of time before China becomes world's largest diamond market.
De Beers are already in China and so is Tiffany and many more big-time diamond players are also ready to enter within China's borders.
Neighboring India is also looking very good in diamond industry development. According to the De Beers Group India and China’s combined share of the global diamond jewelry market is expected to grow from 15 per cent to 20 per cent within the next two years. This is no surprise when you consider that the market for diamonds in both these countries is growing at around 25 per cent yearly.
Asian market for diamonds is certainly set to play extremely important role for global diamond industry in years to come.
Hong Kong is definitely one of the most important cities for global diamond industry, especially for diamond polishing industry. According to the latest report by the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s polished diamond imports increased 37 percent year on year to $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2011, even despite the gloomy economic picture worldwide.
Rough diamonds import also achieved significant increase. Hong Kong’s rough diamonds imports have more than doubled to $686.4 million compared to the last year while rough diamond exports increased 57 percent to $497.3 million.
The countries that are Hong Kong's most important diamond exporters are India and Israel. The import of polished diamond from India increased by 36% and from Israel by 32%. Not only that diamond imports from the United States grew by 21 percent and from Belgium by 44 percent.
This all contributed to Hong Kong’s net diamond account which for the first half of the year increased 1.5 percent to $1.78 billion.
Good marketing was all what was needed to connect diamonds and love, more than 70 years ago, or to be more precise back in the 1939. Diamonds are eternal just like the real love is so let us join these two together, the rest is of course history, and diamonds have became the most sought after pieces of jewelry, especially diamond engagement rings that now have that special status across the globe.
The original "Diamonds are forever" campaign has completely transformed diamond industry by putting everything that was needed to be said in just three little words "diamonds are forever". Is your love forever too? Well, if it is then why not show it in diamonds, yes diamonds are expensive but the real love has no price so there is no better way to show it then buying a diamond ring, a perfect symbol of love, eternity, and circle of life itself.
What's love got to do it? Well we don't need to ask Tina Turner to answer us this question. Connection between diamonds and love has very long history, and entire diamond jewelry business has been built on it. And it's up to excellent marketing to finish the job.
Good marketing is one of the main reasons why diamond jewelry industry today has its worth in billions of dollars and why almost every single girl dreams about being proposed with the beautiful looking diamond engagement ring.
The beauty and excellent physical properties of diamonds would not cut it without the excellent marketing background. The Christmas is not far away either so you'll soon see what I'm talking about :)
Diamonds belong to the hardest substances on our planet, this is the fact that many people are already know. Most people also know that diamonds are capable to cut glass, heck they can even cut steel. According to this data most people would conclude that diamonds have gigantic strength, but strength can be only truly measured once we test this strength to extreme conditions.
The recent scientific studies showed that diamond respond quite well to extreme conditions, in fact diamond becomes even stronger during rapid compression. Using the laser technology the scientists have showed that when shock waves are applied to diamond with powerful lasers, it can support almost a million times atmospheric pressure before being crushed.
This basically means that the diamond shows considerable strength right up to the point of melting. Diamond's melting point is at around 6 million atmospheres of pressure and the required temperature is around 14,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Extremely high temperatures and extremely high pressure is also needed for diamond to be created in the Earth's mantle so it is really no surprise that diamonds need extreme conditions to be melted. The amazing part in the whole story is that diamond will have more than respectable strength all the way to the point of melting.
This conclusion could give some new insights into some new technological uses of diamond, like for instance in currently very popular fusion-energy experiments.
Materials such as diamonds that respond remarkably well when faced with extreme conditions are always welcome for further technological development of many industries.
The year 2011 started very positively for global diamond industry. The current indicators show that not only rough diamond prices but also polished diamond prices are rising because of perceived supply shortages.
On the other hand the demand for diamonds on two new large markets, namely China and India, is constantly growing. This was the main reason for the increase in price of rough diamonds in 2010, and it certainly looks like this trend will continue in 2011 as well.
De Beers, the largest diamond company in the world, which roughly controls 40% of the rough diamond market were also optimistic saying that they expect further increase of rough diamond prices throughout the year.
The last quarter of 2011 should be the most positive because of the holiday season. Last year's holiday season was the main reason why rough diamond prices returned to the pre-recession level.
The world's largest diamond producer is Russia. Alrosa, Russia's state-owned diamond producer reported excellent numbers for 2010, namely revenue of $3.4 billion in 2010 which is around 1.5 times bigger than the 2009 revenue. They expect even bigger revenue for 2011.
Majority of diamonds (around 80%) are not suited for jewelry because they have too much inclusions and other imperfections so they end up being used in many industries.
Industrial diamonds are not valued for their beauty and their shine but mostly for their hardness, and heat conductivity, because these two properties are much sought after in many industries.
Around 27,000 kg of diamonds is each year used for different industrial purposes.
Synthetic diamonds (diamonds that have been produced in the lab) are also used for industrial purposes, and not just diamonds found in nature.
It is estimated that around 110,000 kg of lab made diamonds is each year used for different industrial purposes.
The demand for jewelry is the main factor that decides the boundary between gem quality and industrial diamonds. For instance, if there is a strong demand for cut diamonds some more or less suitable diamonds will be cut into low-quality or small gemstones rather than being sold for industrial use, because of higher profit.
Most common use of diamonds in industry is for cutting and grinding tools, this is of course because of diamond's hardness as diamonds are the hardest substances on our planet.
Diamonds can be even used as tools to cut other diamonds.
Diamond powder can be used as an abrasive.
Lately the most talked about industrial uses of diamonds include possible use of diamond as a semiconductor suitable to build microchips, or its use as a heat sink in electronics.
