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NEWS

Sad diamond day looming

uch a niche space as it is, the antici- The global demand for the rare dia- it was sold in its entirety to Hong Kong
Spated closure of Rio Tinto Ltd’s Argyle monds was best reflected in the fact that fancy coloured diamond specialist, Kun-
diamond mine in Western Australia later successful bidders came from nine dif- ming Diamonds.
this year will be felt industrywide. ferent countries. “This is a dream come true, a rare op-
“It will be a shame for Australia when “No other diamonds on earth match portunity to acquire a once in a lifetime
that mine comes to an end. It is such a the rarity and provenance of Argyle pink collection of pink and red Argyle dia-
strong brand and it will probably have a diamonds. To have acquired two of the monds. With the imminent closure of the
positive impact for some time to come,” last Argyle pink diamonds to ever be un- Argyle mine, a collection such as this
Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd manag- earthed, and one of the few Fancy Red deserves to be showcased to the world
ing director Stephen Wetherall told Pay- Argyle diamonds in existence is the ul- and we look forward to announcing our
dirt. timate privilege,” Ron Kiven, director of plans at a later date.” Harsh Maheshwari,
Almost the entire world supply of rare Blue Star & Kiven Diamonds, part of the director of Kunming Diamonds, said.
pink, red and violet diamonds comes Aurostar Group, said.
from Argyle and over the past 19 years The 2019 Argyle pink diamonds tender
the value of Argyle pink diamonds sold at collection was accompanied for the first
tender has appreciated more than 500%, time by an exclusive selection of smaller
outperforming all major equity markets. Argyle pink and red diamonds. Known as
In 2018, an auction house sold a Pink the Argyle Pink Everlastings™ Collection
Legacy diamond for nearly $70 million, and comprising 64 lots of carefully cu-
setting a world record price. rated diamonds, weighing in total 211ct,
The Argyle pink diamond’s val-
ue comes from its uniqueness; it
is one of the rarest in the world,
believed to represent less than
0.1% of all diamonds.
Annual production of pink dia-
monds is said to fit in the palm
of a hand, with Argyle diamonds
accounting for 90% of the world’s
pink output.
The 2019 Argyle pink dia-
monds tender collection of 64
rare pink and red diamonds de-
livered strong results, with the
35th tender since production
started attracting double-digit
growth in the number of bids.

SOURCE: GlobalData, Mining Intelligence Center

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