Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony of commissioning the Mir open pit mine in Yakutia On having arrived to the mine, Putin shared his impressions of a survey of the the Mir mine: “I have just seen it from a place; it looks very impressive." ALROSA’s President Fyodor Andreyev ordered the launch of ore production and the first mine car with kimberlite ore rolled out of the mine some 10 minutes later.

A decision of ALROSA’s Supervisory Board as of July 10 on Fyodor Andreyev’s appointment as ALROSA’s President starting July 15 became a great event in the global diamond business.

Vladimir Litvinenko, rector of the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, is a head of the working group of the RF State Council for the state policy perfection in the area of subsurface recourses management. He gave an exclusive interview to Alexey Chertkov, editor-in-chief of the Diamonds & Gold of Russia magazine.

ALROSA will for the first time ever have non-executive directors proposed by the Federal Property Management Agency (Rosimuschestvo) (a copy of application was published by Vedomosti).

The presidential election campaigns are now at their heights both in Russia and the U.S. The Americans can hardly name their future president now. But most Russians have no doubt that Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s successor, will become the new president the diamond power.

Formation of a new structure of supreme power has been completed in Russia. Now the country has new parliament, President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the government

Large rough and polished diamonds, as well as rough and polished diamonds having unique characteristics, will be directed to the Diamond Fund of Russia irrespective of their price.

The Russian jewelry market is one of the most rapidly developing markets in the world. In recent years, it grew between 20 to 30 percent. Diamond jewelry accounts for a rather large segment of this market, thus, in order to satisfy the growing demand, many jewelry manufacturers companies have a need to purchase high-quality polished diamonds.

An interview with Maxim Shkadov, general director of Kristall Production Corporation

The following is the speech of the president of the Russian Diamond Manufacturers Association, general director of OJSC Kristall Production Corporation Maxim Shkadov at a press conference held at the Manege (Moscow) on November 5, 2007

A celebratory firework of 45 salvoes completed in Smolensk the events devoted to the 45th anniversary of OJSC Kristall Production Corporation. The Smolensk factory Kristall is a forefather of the domestic diamond-processing industry and Russia’s major diamond exporter.

Who is one of the key people behind the success of Rosy Blue? What are the value’s he appreciates the most? Mr. Dilip Mehta was born in Mumbai on November 13th 1949. Today he is CEO of the Rosy Blue Group. Together with the other Group Partners Mr. Harshad Mehta, Mr. Arun Mehta, Mr. Russell Mehta and Mr. Amit Bhansali he has succeeded in creating a diamond business with over $ 1.8bn in sales. With offices, factories and stores in 15 countries, Rosy Blue is firmly established across the value chain and in all major diamond and jewelry centers globally.

Ernie Blom was elected on June 27, 2006, as president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourse (WFDB) for a two-year term. In the following interview with Diamonds and Gold of Russia, he shares his views on main issues affecting the global diamond industry and suggests some possible solutions.

De Beers’ representation in Moscow celebrated its 15th anniversary in September, 2007. Created on a decline of the Soviet Union’s existence, it has managed to successfully integrate into the creation of favorable conditions for business cooperation between the Russian and South African diamond businesses.

Isi Morsel, President of the Dali Diamond company, answered the questions of the Diamonds & Gold of Russia magazine.

 

The Diamonds &Gold of Russia international magazine offers its readers an interview by Alexey Chertkov, the edition’s editor-in-chief, with the head of the Tachе Company Isaac Tachе, one of the most authoritative diamantaires, who has been in business for over 50 years. Isaac Tachе is an Executive Director of Tachе Company, which he co-heads with his two brothers Joseph and Robert. The three succeeded their father Jacques Tachе, who founded the company.

by Alexey Chertkov In our “exclusives,” we traditionally present interviews with the best-known and most professional figures in the international trade in precious metals and precious stones. In the past, we have spoken with De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and former De Beers Managing Director Gary Ralfe; Maxim Shkadov, managing director of Smolensk Kristall; Gaetano Cavalieri, president of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation; and many others.

OAO Prioksky Plant of Nonferrous Metals (PPNM) is one of the largest enterprises on the post-Soviet territory which is engaged in gold, silver and platinum group metals refining; it is located in the ancient Russian city of Kasimov in the Ryazan region. The PPNM is the only enterprise in Russia, which applies the processes of electrochemical refinement guaranteeing the obtainment of gold of the highest standard and the extraction of accompanying precious metals from it with minimum losses, in the technology of gold refining.

Alexandrite was discovered in 1834, in the southern Urals, and was named in honor of the Russian Emperor Alexander II. It is a rare variety of chrysoberyl and the stone's value is defined by pleochroism — an ability to change color from emerald-green under daylight illumination, to violet-red at artificial illumination with filament lamps.

Items with precious stones occupy a special place in the jewelry trade. These minerals have a unique aura due to their aesthetic properties, rarity, high cost and mystical appeal.

Rubies, like sapphires, are one of the varieties of gem-quality corundum, the color of which is conditioned by the impurity of chrome. According to Russian normative documents, a red-colored transparent variety of the mineral corundum is called the ruby.

For over two thousand years, natural gem-quality diamonds have been in firm demand. In the 1950-s, the methods of producing laboratory-grown diamonds and substances with nearly identical properties, which can not be distinguished by an average diamond jewellery consumer, appeared.

The Middle Eastern regional consumer diamond jewelry market has been carefully studied by analysts such as Chaim Even-Zohar, who have compiled regional statistics on the “diamond pipeline.” The first task is to define the market geographically. Traditionally, the Middle East is considered to consist of 14 countries in Southwest Asia.

Russian Union of Goldminers summed up last year’s results of the industry’s enterprises and made forecasts regarding the prospects of the precious metal mining and price for it.

A key indicator of the companies’ position in the market, enabling to estimate their attractiveness for investors, is a dynamics of their shares’ prices and the data on profitability.

Rising from humble beginnings in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the early 1960s, Rosy Blue has become a multinational diamond corporation, with rough diamond trading offices, polishing plants, jewelry manufacturing factories and sales offices in 15 countries and annual revenues of .6 billion.

“Banks have machines for counting notes. Nobody would seriously expect a bank teller to do it by hand anymore. Similarly, counting and weighing diamonds can, and should, be done by a machine. Now they can be.”

The OOO Almazintech - Consulting and Engineering Company was founded in 2002. The GRACE group of companies was one of the founders of the Company. In the past seven years, the Company that started practically from the scratch has acquired good reputation on the market of the engineering services in the field of solid minerals mining projects.

A test centre for the analysis of solid minerals preparation using radiometric methods was solemnly opened in Moscow on September 9, 2009. This project was implemented by the Russian company Scientific and Production Enterprise (SPE) GeoTestService OOO and the German firm CommoDas&UltraSort, with the assistance of Almazintech – Consulting and Engineering OOO and Atom-Innovations Centre under the state corporation Rosatom. The test centre is located in the territory of the Experimental Chemico-Engineering Factory of the All-Russia Scientific and Research Institute of Chemical Technologies (ASRICT).

Diamond Dimensions Ltd. Presented a New Cut Diamond Dimensions Ltd., a diamond venture in Israel, has introduced several unique patented diamond cuts based on the Cross and Lotus shapes in Ramat Gan. As they say in the company, the new cut can “meet the demand for something new in diamond design.” In addition to these shapes, Diamond Dimensions is offering jewelry manufacturers and designers the opportunity to have their own designs translated into unique white or black diamond gems.

The market of polished diamonds has found itself to be to its ears in debt and needs liquidity. To solve this problem, Martin Rapaport, the creator of the famous Rapaport Diamond Price list, plans to start an online diamond exchange, offering cash-based transactions. The businessman plans to launch a new financial instrument already in the coming months. But the Russian experts doubt if it will be in demand.

The Diamonds & Gold of Russia magazine told the readers in the previous issue about the most significant websites of the Russian rough and polished diamonds manufacturers. This time we present to our readers a review of online stores’ websites.

“A jewelry item cannot be ephemeral. It has to be the symbol of a certain period; it must have its history and be able to express thoughts and feelings. It must bring life, emotions and joy.” — Wanda Gontijo, designer of the company Vancox.

by Rimma Perova

Branding has recently drawn a lot of attention in the Russian jewelry industry. Jewelry manufacturing companies have realized, however, that not every trademark can inspire confidence in the buyer’s mind, thus forming a long-term preference.