diamonds: real or memorex?

[maitri]

i found this article touting the new and improved synthetic diamonds interesting... (and scary!)

abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/SciTech/GMA030909Diamond_synthetics_hunter.html

[Doug]

The only use I have for diamonds is to polish the colored stones that I cut! In truth debeers has created such an artificial, house of card, market that diamonds are at best an incredibly risky investment. When there are warehouses full of rough waiting to be cut, and many hundred (probably thousands) of cutters working around the clock all over the world are they really rare? Don't most women you know own at least 1 or 2 diamonds? What justifies the extremely high prices that are demanded for diamonds?
The only thing diamonds have going (besides being really tough) is the marketing millions that are spent. The tradition of diamond engagement rings will hopefully fade as more synthetics hit the market. It is now only commoners who give diamonds for engagements. Check out what Fergie and Diana got for engagement rings from the royal chumps and you will see valuable, RARE stones.

[maitri]

i agree with you completely doug...

personally, i have never owned a diamond because i have no way of making sure that it didn't come from sierra leone at the cost of some poor diggers hands and feet (the diamond trade is brutal and we support it by buying the diamonds it produces).

i would much prefer to wear stones with color ...

what concerns me about this article is the potential for the market to go all synthetic. it's so much easier and cheaper after all. and how does the average layperson know the difference?

the only way to know for sure is to dig your own! yeah!

[mrdavid]

Hi there is A change in the Diamond market are goverment is going to Bane on Rough Diamonds there are to many people out there cutting Diamonds and big bother bont like this loseing to much money lol I know How much money it is I can get them cheap but dont like to sell them to many people getting hurt for them I only get the color Diamonds from USA that I know they dont come from over seas so with the bane Diamonds will go up these year last year they lost over 2 billon in sells to bad for them

[Kimberly Olson]

Hello,
I also agree, why is a diamond more special than a beautifully cut beryl or corundum? My husband & I mind Herkimer Diamonds - much more rare than a real diamond, but just a simple quartz, thus we do not make $2000 for a moderate carat.
In defense, however, a friend has a spectacular diamond, I have never seen so much fire in a stone, especially a diamond. She set it in an open bezel, round cut, it is magnificant and well worth a high price tag.
To continue with the subject of diamonds, I have an additional question some of you may be able to answer:
Severlal years ago I read an article about large veins of Kimberlite found in Canada NW, and the possibility of a MAJOR diamond score. I have not seen anything else written since. Anyone have an update on this? Did debeers conquer and bury?
Sincerely,
Kimberly
www.herkimercrystalsonline.com

[maitri]

i found this on google (using keywords: kimberlite, Canada and diamond, there was plentiful response if you're interested in more)

>Canada's diamond fever

By: Nicole Mordant


Posted: 2003/06/18 Wed 16:02 PDT | © Mineweb 1997-2004


VANCOUVER – For some years now Canada has been touted as the next big diamond geography but the industry has suddenly hit fever pitch on the back of a raft of encouraging discoveries and results from a handful of exploration companies.
Since last month, the shares of several diamond juniors have rocketed, and analysts, although excited by the potential the discoveries offer, are cautioning investment sobriety over these very early-stage finds.

“In some instances, we are looking at kimberlite finds, not diamondiferous kimberlite. You could think that the excitement is getting a little irrationally exuberant,” says Eric Zaunscherb, an analyst at Raymond James in Vancouver. Kimberlite is the igneous rock in which diamonds are found, but not all kimberlites contain diamonds.

One of the biggest gainers has been Shear [TSX-V: SRM], whose share price has surged 300% in the past six weeks. It has been driven by news that all three targets drilled at its 51%-owned Churchill Diamond Project in eastern Nunavut have intersected kimberlite.

Joint venture partner, Northern Empire [TSX-V: NEM], which owns a 35% stake in the Churchill project, has seen its share price ratchet up 80% in the same period.

And Cumberland [TSX-V: CBD], which announced this week that it had intersected 14 kimberlites in 16 holes on its 51%-owned Meliadine East property, has gained 35% in value. The Meliadine East project adjoins Churchill.

Another market favourite is Stornoway [TSX-V: SWV] whose share price is 50% higher than at the beginning of May. The stock has been fuelled by encouraging diamond counts at its Aviat joint venture project with Northern Empire on Nunavut’s Melville Peninsula.

According to diamond industry veteran Chris Jennings, the chairman of SouthernEra Resources, the data emerging from the Melville Peninsula is some of the most promising data seen since the discoveries of Ekati and Diavik, Canada’s two producing diamond mines. “It’s early days yet but that is an extremely promising area, which has been little explored,” Jennings told Mineweb.

“Ekati-like” excitement
Industry watchers say the excitement in the sector is reminiscent of the atmosphere at the time of the Ekati and Diavik discoveries. “At that time one could virtually put out a press release on having a circular geophysical anomaly or one anomalous till sample and the market paid you for it,” says an analyst who advises investors at least wait for diamond count results before leaping into the stock market fray.

The stakes are high for exploration companies, funders and investors alike. Experts estimate that there are more than 5,000 known kimberlites in the world, but that only about 10% contain diamonds. The chance of a discovery turning into a mine is even slimmer, at about 1%.

The danger of runaway expectations was evident today [Wednesday] in a sharp pullback in the share price of another junior, Kensington [TSX-V: KRT]. Three weeks ago, the diamond exploration company pulled a 10-plus carat diamond out of the ground at its Fort a la Corne joint venture with De Beers in Saskatchewan. Its stock price ran up sharply following the news but did an abrupt about-turn today, losing 14%, after further diamond recovery results from the project revealed grades at the low end of analysts’ expectations.

Mergers and acquisitions
A sure sign that things are cooking in the diamond sector is the increase in corporate activity. Three weeks ago, Stornoway and Northern Empire announced they would merge, so consolidating their respective 35% stakes in the 7-million acre Aviat property.

Diamond majors are also taking seriously the potential for discovery by diamond juniors. In a vote of confidence for both the Aviat and Churchill ventures, global mining giant BHP Billiton, has in recent weeks paid top dollar for minority stakes in both. BHP, which owns and operates the Ekati mine, bought a 20% interest in Stornoway and Northern Empire’s Aviat project and followed that up a few days later with the purchase of a 14% stake in Shear and Northern Empire’s Churchill property.

According to diamond guru, John Kaiser, Canada will by next year supply 15% of the world’s rough diamonds, a market estimated to be worth $8 billion a year. In a few years time, the country's high quality diamonds, coupled with expected new production, will combine to unseat South Africa as the world’s third largest diamond-producing nation by value. This, for a country, which opened its first diamond mine just five years ago.

Amid the current buzz, the question starting to be asked is which region will be the next Lac de Gras, the area in the Northwest Territories that produced Ekati and Diavik? With active exploration in six of Canada’s ten provinces and two out of three territories, the field is wide open.

[Basketweaverz]

One local jewelry store in Seattle is advertising stones from Canada. I am not too interested in diamond jewelry and cannot remember what they are calling the Canadian stones. I will keep my ears open and post the name when I hear that commercial on the radio again. If this is so, there must be stones entering the market.

Bet that really frosts DuBeers!!! hehehe

I have a dear friend who lives in Yellowknife, NWT. Wonder how close that is to this strike??

Basket

[Pdwight]

Hey ever watch the Godfather well the Corleons were Mr. Rogers compaired to DeBeers , they will probbly burn down the plant in FL and accidents will happen to every employee with intamate knowledge of the process.

Dwight P

[dr00bie]

Found this related site... thought it may be interesting to some....

www.sparkle.plus.com/dbmines.html

Drew

[Riviera]

As for diamonds in Canada they are there. I was in Vancouver last week and went in to many stores and all were sell Canada diamonds. I spoke with a few about the mine and it is being mine full time. It is in the bottom of a lake and the water has been drain. It was a geologist school teacher and a friend who search for ten years before finding the pipe. They have sold the mineral rights to some company and now are millonaires. One sold all his rights to the diamonds and the other took a paid out plus a cut of the sell of the diamonds. I read this and was told this by a few of the shop owners. True or not that was what I heard and read. I am sure if you would search on the internet you could find something. Riviera ;D Found this on the internet www.mining-technology.com/projects/ekati/

[crystaldigger]

From what I understand, a lot of potential sites are way to the north and in inhospitable territory. But, hey, if this "global warming" thing keeps on, they may have better access in 6 months!