Alrosa proudly announced its membership of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) in September 2016, having met "the highest ethical, human rights, social and environmental standards". That accolade rings somewhat hollow today, after the Russian government - one-third owner... Read More...

For the first time since the Second World War, the diamond industry must choose sides and act immediately to find a way to save itself during these historical times. Putin has never had such a decisive Western opposition in any of his previous military adventures. Read More...

The US has imposed sanctions on Russian diamonds. If the headlines are to be believed. "Key supply of diamonds caught up in Russia sanctions," said CNN, after President Joe Biden issued his executive order last Friday. "US to ban Russian diamond and vodka imports," Read More...

First it was blood diamonds, now it's blood oil. Blood diamonds fuelled civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s. Today Russia stands accused of funding its invasion of Ukraine with what critics are calling blood oil. On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced an import ban... Read More...

It's the calm before the storm. The US has imposed lukewarm sanctions on Alrosa, directing its citizens not to buy on memo - from a company that says it doesn't sell on memo. And not to engage directly with its CEO - not that most of them are likely to have personal dealings with him. That doesn't sound like a huge imposition, but things could get a lot more serious, and very quickly. Read More...

OPINION by Erez Jacob Rivlin and Hubert de Munck.  Senior veteran diamantaires remember the speculative diamond market of the end of the 70s. Starting in 1976, the better diamond qualities rose sharply, then doubled again and again. The price bubble kept ... Read More...

It already holds the record as the largest vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. And there's a chance that the De Beers Cullinan Blue will become the world's most expensive blue diamond ever when it goes under the hammer. Sotheby's Hong Kong announced on Wednesday that it will be sold in April in a special single-lot live auction... Read More...

The Koh-i-Nor isn't the largest or most valuable diamond in the world. But it's possibly the most famous and the most controversial, and it's in the news again this week. More words have been written about the alluvial diamond believed to come from Golconda, India, than any other gem.... Read More...

It was the American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz who coined the term "butterfly effect" in 1972. He used it to explain how something very small - a distant butterfly flapping its wings - could have a disproportionate impact on something very big... Read More...

Sotheby's say it's "a treasure from interstellar space". The Enigma is certainly an exceptional gem, certified by the GIA as the largest fancy black natural colour diamond in the world, polished with 55 facets and weighing 555.55 carats. But is the diamond... Read More...