RAPAPORT... • The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Botswana has its first board of directors. After the board’s inaugural meeting in Gaborone, the company issued an official announcement, signed by both De Beers and the government of Botswana. Noting that “by the end of the decade, over $550 million of rough diamonds will be sold every year for manufacturing in Botswana,” the statement helped define the mission of the new board of directors, which includes the following individuals: Representing Botswana, Linah Mohohlo, governor of the Bank of Botswana; Dr. Athalia Molokomme, Botswana’s attorney general; Kago Moshashane, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources; Kelapile Ndobano, deputy permanent secretary for economic affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning; and Jacob Thamage, director of mines at the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. Representing De Beers, Varda Shine, managing director of the DTC; Sheila Khama, chief executive officer (CEO) of De Beers Botswana; Mike Page, executive director of finance at DTC; Paul Rowley, executive director of the Rough Diamond Division at DTC; and Ellen Lampartner, executive director of human resources at DTC.
• Ribson Gabonowe has been tapped by the exploration company African Diamonds to be CEO of Kukama Mining & Exploration Company Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of African Diamonds. A former official of the Botswana government who represented Botswana’s interests on various executive committees, Gabonowe is now responsible for growing Kukama’s assets in diamond-rich Botswana. His portfolio of projects includes some within the De Beers-African Diamonds joint venture, as well as a number of concurrent exploration and mining ventures.
• Nancy Murray is the new vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for the Aber Diamond Corporation/Harry Winston Diamond Corporation. In this newly created position, Murray will report to Thomas J. O’Neill, president of Aber and CEO of Harry Winston, and to Susy Korb, chief marketing officer and creative director.
Aber/Harry Winston has also appointed Hamdi Chatti as executive vice president – product. Based in New York, this newly created position involves overseeing technical innovations and other product development, as well as the manufacture, sorting and supply of diamonds. Chatti will also report to O’Neill.
• Stephane Fischler has been named the new chairman of The International Diamond Council (IDC), a consultative body established in 1975 by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA). Fischler has assumed responsibility for overseeing the organization’s crucial role in regulating diamond nomenclature, grading standards, rules and working methods.
Fischler’s most recent credentials include serving as secretary general and treasurer of IDMA as well as president of the European Council of Diamond Manufacturers and vice president of the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC).
• Donald Boucher was appointed vice president of exploration for Canada-based Superior Diamonds Inc., a company that conducts searches for diamonds in regions of Ontario and Quebec. Boucher brings with him more than 25 years of experience at De Beers Canada, where he managed exploration offices in Val d’Or, Quebec, and Sudbury, Ontario. Boucher’s hiring comes on the heels of the naming of Thomas Morris as president and CEO.
• As of October 1, David Evans replaces Guy Pas as the executive chairman of Mano River Resources Inc., an exploration company with a focus on gold, diamond and iron ore reserves in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Pas, the company’s founder, moves to a new role as a nonexecutive director of the company. Evans comes to Mano with more than 30 years of experience in different roles in the natural services sector.
Besides this appointment, Mano has named a new CEO, Luis Giulherme Cabrita da Silva, who replaces Tom Elder, the nine-year incumbent. Da Silva, whose appointment is effective October 1, was Mano’s chief financial officer.
• Kim Truter has been named the new president and chief operating officer of Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. Truter replaces Mark Anderson, who is joining Rio Tinto’s Global Practice Mining Team after a two-year term at the helm of Diavik. Truter’s experience in the industry includes, most recently, a tenure as the general manager of Rio Tinto Coal’s Mount Thorley Warkworth operation.
• Francois Delage has joined the De Beers Group as the CEO of a new division of the company, De Beers Group Marketing. Managing director Gareth Penny’s appointment of Delage meets the demand for someone experienced in the Asian market who can direct a new marketing division with a large purview, including the “Trilogy” and “Journey” campaigns. Delage’s responsibilities also include developing the “Forevermark” and building consumer confidence in diamonds. Before this appointment, Delage served as president of the Asia-Pacific region for the luxury retail giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
• Rick Cohen has been appointed director of diamonds for Robbins Bros., the engagement ring store. Diamond purchasing for the company, which promotes itself as the world’s largest store for engagement rings, falls under Cohen’s purview. Cohen brings with him many years of hands-on experience in the industry, including, most recently, a tenure as executive vice president of M. Fabrikant & Sons.
• Patricia Syvrud has joined the sales and marketing team of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company. Coming on board as the director of industry relations and marketing development, Syvrud is responsible for cultivating relationships with organizations and individuals in the jewelry industry, as well as planning for trade shows and other special events.
Fundraising is an important aspect of the extensive experience that Syvrud brings with her. As the director of in-kind gifts for the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), she was responsible for a $3 million noncash program, in addition to a museum collection.
• Jerry Ehrenwald, president and CEO of the International Gemological Institute (IGI), has been inducted into the Twenty-Four Karat Club of New York. The 200 members of the club include some of the most widely known figures within the diamond industry. In inducting Ehrenwald – who has held the top position at IGI since 1981 — the organization is recognizing an industry figure who won patents in the United States and in Belgium for inventing the procedure used to laser-inscribe diamonds.
• The 18th Canadian Gemological Association Annual Gem Conference will take place in Vancouver from October 19 through October 21. This year’s event will enjoy the sponsorship of True North Gems and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and representatives of the former company plan to use the occasion to present their discovery program to GIA’s Canadian alumni. Besides this presentation, various figures from the global gemological community will deliver speeches, and awards will be presented to members of the graduating class of 2007.
• “Tribute to the Producers,” the third International Rough Diamond Conference sponsored by the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI), will take place on February 11 and 12, 2008, in Tel Aviv. Ministers from diamond-mining African states and executives from many of the world’s largest diamond-producing companies are expected to attend.
• The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has opened its third office in India in the city of Kolkata. It is a diamond, gemstone and jewelry certification laboratory. An estimated 11 percent of all diamonds purchased by India’s consumers come from vendors in Kolkata.
• U.S. Patent No. D550,115 has been issued to Ashi Diamonds, LLC in New York. The company’s innovative ornamental design for an emerald/square-cut polished diamond with four pavilion cuts results from the efforts of the design’s developers, Vikrant Patni of Mumbai, India, and Rajeev Pandya of Staten Island, New York.
• In a conversation with Rapaport News, representatives of the Japan-based retailer Uchihara Group said that they had made a deal to import stones from Diamond Manufacturing Botswana. This will mark the first time that a retailer in Japan has brought in diamonds directly from the African nation.
• The Gübelin Gem Lab had long labored under the burden of a 7.6 percent value-added tax (VAT) for its clients based outside of Switzerland, but now the VAT is a thing of the past. Switzerland’s federal tax authorities informed the gemological lab about a change in the interpretation of the applicable tax laws, which not only means that the VAT is gone, but also that customers outside the country who paid for the lab’s services in 2007 can apply for reimbursement.
• The Jewelers’ Security Alliance, Jewelers of America and Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company teamed up to combine the resources of jewelers and police to spread information, identify suspects and track down criminals. Within three years, planned networks will be operating in 200 different towns, cities, counties and states.
• The Diamond Manufacturers & Importers Association of America is developing a reporting system that will help diamond manufacturers, importers and dealers make sound credit decisions. The Diamond Industry Information Platform, as this new system will be called, will draw upon the input of participants.
• Yves Harvey has joined the board of directors of the Stornoway Diamond Corporation. The diamond exploration and development company, which has mined kimberlites in six different diamond districts of Canada, chose Harvey on the basis of his broad experience in the industry.
• The World Jewelry Center planned for Las Vegas has been designated a Foreign Trade Zone in a decision by the Foreign Trade Zones Board of the United States Commerce Department. The announcement came from Somer Hollingsworth, president and CEO of the Nevada Development Authority, and JoAnne Tornberg, president and CEO of the Nevada International Trade Corporation.
• Graham Kerr has been appointed as the president of BHP Billiton’s Diamonds and Specialty Products Customer Sector Group. Kerr replaces Alberto Calderon, who moves to a new position as the mining giant’s group executive and chief commercial officer. Since joining BHP in 1994, Kerr has worked in a variety of roles, serving most recently as the chief financial officer for BHP’s Stainless Steel Materials Customer Sector Group. Before that, he was vice president of financial operations for BHP Billiton Diamonds.
BHP’s diamond portfolio includes an 80 percent stake in the Ekati Diamond Mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. By the end of 2007, the corporation expects to start production at Canada’s Koala underground mine, in which it owns an 80 percent stake.
• The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has elected Dione Kenyon and Frederick Levinger to its board of governors. Currently, Kenyon is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jewelers Board of Trade, while Levinger serves as CEO of Nobadeer Enterprises/Speidel. When the GIA holds its next board of governors’ meeting in Carlsbad, California, on November 10 and 11, Kenyon and Levinger will formally assume their new roles.
• Lord Renwick of Clifton, a former diplomat of the British government, has been appointed as a nonexecutive director of the diamond mining company Gem Diamonds. Renwick’s extensive diplomatic experience includes having served as the British ambassador to South Africa, and then as Britain’s ambassador to the United States. After this diplomatic service, Renwick took on a series of positions in the corporate world, including vice chairman for investment banking at JPMorgan Europe, vice chairman of JPMorgan Cazenove and nonexecutive director of Compagnie Financière Richemont, Fluor Corporation, Kazakhmys plc and SABMiller plc.
• Tanzanite One, a company that mines the tanzanite gemstone, reported a profit of $3 million in the first half of 2007. Year over year, the company’s profits grew 31 percent to $21.3 million in the first half, thanks to two sights held during the period. According to company spokespersons, rough sales generated revenues of $18.5 million, of which $13.7 million was mined and $4.8 million was traded rough.
Lower operating expenses — stemming partly from the closure of its wholesale jewelry business in South Africa — are among the factors cited for the company’s move to profitability.
• The Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA) has moved to a new office in Manhattan. The new address is 576 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10036, (212) 644-9747.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - October 2007. To subscribe click here.