> South Africa Starts Diamond Fingerprinting Project
South Africa’s minerals science council, MINTEK, and the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR) are launching a geo-scientific project to study the possibility of determining the origin of individual rough diamond crystals.

(October 12, 2009)

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> IDEX Online Research: Net Loss of 372 U.S. Jewelry Retailers in First Nine Months of 2009
The recessionary environment continues to take its toll on retail jewelers in the U.S. market. For the first nine months of 2009, the census of retail jewelry firms has been reduced by a net (openings minus closings) of 372 retail jewelry firms – 1.6 percent of the total jewelry firms in America – notably more than the net loss of 308 jewelry retailers for the same nine-month period a year ago.

(October 29, 2009)

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> NGO Calls to Suspend Zimbabwe from KP
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, scheduled to meet in Swakopmund, Namibia, on November 2-5, should immediately suspend Zimbabwe for continuing human rights abuses and widespread smuggling in the Marange diamond fields, Human Rights Watch said in a release Thursday.

(October 29, 2009)

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> Anglo American CEO: Keeping De Beers Stake, Diamonds A Core Business
Anglo American Plc plans to retain its stake in De Beers. Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll said in a radio interview, “We continue to see diamonds as a core business of ours.”

(October 28, 2009)

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> Israel: We Do Not Trade Rough with Non-KP Members
Responding to an allegation by a UN inspection team, Israel denied it is trading rough diamonds with the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), a country that is not a member of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

(October 28, 2009)

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> Investigative TV Program Documents Zimbabwe Smuggling Operations
South Africa’s SABC3 is airing on Tuesday an expose on Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa diamond fields, where security forces have killed hundreds of diggers and from where massive amounts of rough diamonds are smuggled out of the country and into the legitimate diamond stream.

(October 27, 2009)

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> New Fantasy Bra for the New Year
Victoria's Secret model Marisa Miller will model the lingerie company’s new Fantasy Bra, a $3 million diamond-studded bra created by Damiani. The creation is set with over 2,350 white, champagne and cognac colored diamonds in a harlequin pattern, “accented” by a 16-carat heart shaped champagne diamond pendant dangling in the middle.

(October 25, 2009)

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> De Beers 2009 Production Expected to be Halved
De Beers produced 7.885 million carats in the third quarter ending September 30, bringing year to date production to 14.476 million carats, according to an Anglo American plc interim production report. The output is a 39.9 percent decline from the third quarter of 2008 and a 61.2 drop for the nine-month period.

(October 22, 2009)

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> De Beers Executive Sees Signs of Diamond Market Revival
De Beers sees recovery in the global diamond market, and the company’s mines in Botswana are now running at 80 percent capacity. This is despite the fact that consumers are not yet buying polished diamonds in the amounts they were before the economic collapse.

(October 20, 2009)

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