Burgundy Diamond Mines will open a cutting and polishing facility in Australia

RAPAPORT... Burgundy Diamond Mines will open a cutting and polishing facility in Australia to manufacture colored diamonds from its Ellendale project, as well as those of third-party suppliers.

The new factory will also include grading facilities, Burgundy said Tuesday. The miner, which bought the joint Ellendale and Blina deposits in Australia from Gibb River in March, plans to launch a focused branding campaign for the yellow diamonds the sites produce.

“Burgundy intends to extract maximum value from the natural beauty of the Ellendale stones via its own marketing initiatives, and reestablish Western Australia as a supplier of unique, high-value diamonds to luxury-goods markets worldwide,” the company noted.

The company will manufacture colored diamonds from its other mines in the future, including the Naujaat project in Canada, which produces fancy-yellow and orange diamonds. That project is currently in the bulk-sampling phase, with production set for 2022. Burgundy hopes to begin producing from Ellendale next year.

“This is an ideal opportunity to secure specialist facilities and skills as a springboard for our planned business growth, incorporating a downstream extension to our diamond strategy,” said Burgundy managing director Peter Ravenscroft. “Burgundy will use this capability to maximize the value of our own future fancy-color diamond production, and to pursue other business opportunities in this high-value segment.”

The Pink Diamond That Got Away

I was just contemplating the beautiful rough pink diamond that I was so close to acquiring during my last trip into the southern Borneo diamond fields. One of the artisanal diamond miners uncovered a fantastic 1.3 carat rough pink diamond while I was in the area and it was offered to me to buy. The stone was a deep pink colour and was oval shaped with a course outer skin. With careful cutting the weight could have been maintained to around 0.8 carat and produced a spectacular oval shaped pink diamond.

We agreed on a purchase price of US$20,000 however I needed to dash across to Jakarta to get the cash. I jumped on a plane for the 45 minute flight to Jakarta and raced to the bank to get the money however on my way back to the airport I was informed the stone had been sold to someone else. As you can imagine I was very disappointed!

The local artisanal diamond miners are uncovering rare pink and blue diamond's every once in a while so I will get another chance before too long to add a nice pink to our diamond inventory.

What is Fairtrade & What Are Fair Trade Diamonds?

Fair Trade & Fair Trade Diamonds

According to the Fairtrade Organization website http://www.fairtrade.net/ “Not all trade is fair! Farmers and workers at the beginning of the chain don’t always get a fair share of the benefits of trade. Fair Trade enables consumers to put this right. It is based on a partnership between producers and consumers by offering producers, at the start of the chain, a better deal to allow them the opportunity to improve their lives. Fair Trade also offers consumers a powerful way to reduce poverty through their every day shopping.”

Fair Trade Diamonds in the context of the Fairtrade definition, is providing the very poor traditional diamond miners, at the start of the diamond supply chain, a fair deal for their work. Commonly traditional diamond miners, in the Borneo diamond fields, survive on less than $200 per month to provide for their families. In complete contrast, flashy diamond jewellers in developed countries sell these hard found diamonds for tens of thousand of dollars making huge profit margins.

Currently there are no Fair Trade standards applicable to diamonds. The companies working in this field are not yet able to gain recognition for there contributions in assisting the people and communities at the beginning of the diamond supply chain. Our company is pushing for standards to be introduced, so that the people living in poverty in the various diamond fields around the world, can have a opportunity for receiving improved benefits.

 

We are proud of the fact that our company practices the principles and concepts of Fair Trade diamonds, in all trade that we undertake with the people and communities at the start of the diamond supply chain. Our profit margins are much lower than other less ethical organisations, but we are satisfied being able to contribute to a better life for the communities located in the Borneo diamond fields.