De Beers warns of cut in supply of rough gems

Johannesburg – De Beers warned clients of a reduced supply of rough diamonds, mostly from South Africa, because it was facing pressure from host governments to offer stones to local cutters and polishers, PolishedPrices.com said.

The company told South African clients that it would struggle to supply them with diamonds larger than 2 carats, the Antwerp-based news service said, citing a letter sent by De Beers to customers. The company told clients to focus on using a wider range of rough diamonds in the production of jewellery by improving their manufacturing technology.De Beers would only consider allocating stones to clients that showed an ability to process a wider range of diamonds, PolishedPrices added.The diamond firm had difficulty in meeting the targets of governments to process stones locally while maintaining uninterrupted supply to its 93 customers around the world, PolishedPrices said.Andy Bone, a spokesperson for the company, could not comment immediately.Meanwhile Sapa reported the diamond industry had reacted with caution to claims that synthetic diamonds made by US company Apollo Diamond could escape detection.The Antwerp World Diamond Centre reported in its Antwerp Facets yesterday that the claims came from analyst Chaim Even Zohar.Centre research director Yves Kerremans said he looked forward to examining any recently produced “undetectable” synthetic stones.Screening instruments were available to help separate genuine diamonds from stones that needed further investigation in a diamond laboratory to identify their origin.Only a small fraction of stones was selected for additional tests.”We have invested a great deal in research on synthetics and continue to expand our know-how,” Kerremans said.”The identification of synthetic diamonds at the centre poses no problem.”In is not known whether De Beers would experience the same in Namibia, which is also encouraging local cutting.BloombergThe company told clients to focus on using a wider range of rough diamonds in the production of jewellery by improving their manufacturing technology.De Beers would only consider allocating stones to clients that showed an ability to process a wider range of diamonds, PolishedPrices added.The diamond firm had difficulty in meeting the targets of governments to process stones locally while maintaining uninterrupted supply to its 93 customers around the world, PolishedPrices said.Andy Bone, a spokesperson for the company, could not comment immediately.Meanwhile Sapa reported the diamond industry had reacted with caution to claims that synthetic diamonds made by US company Apollo Diamond could escape detection.The Antwerp World Diamond Centre reported in its Antwerp Facets yesterday that the claims came from analyst Chaim Even Zohar.Centre research director Yves Kerremans said he looked forward to examining any recently produced “undetectable” synthetic stones.Screening instruments were available to help separate genuine diamonds from stones that needed further investigation in a diamond laboratory to identify their origin.Only a small fraction of stones was selected for additional tests.”We have invested a great deal in research on synthetics and continue to expand our know-how,” Kerremans said.”The identification of synthetic diamonds at the centre poses no problem.”In is not known whether De Beers would experience the same in Namibia, which is also encouraging local cutting.Bloomberg