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New
Ruby Sources in Mozambique |
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Dr.
Laurent Massi, GIA’s (Gemological Institute of
America) education director in Thailand, spoke about
the recent discoveries of ruby deposits in Mozambique
on July 13 during the Malaysia International Jewellery
Fair. Massi highlighted the ruby deposits of the Niassa
and Cabo Delgado provinces, and discussed their impact
on the global gem industry.
Following the discovery
of the first ruby deposit in the Niassa province in
Northern Mozambique at the end of 2008, a second and
even more promising deposit was discovered in the Cabo
Delgado province close to the city of Montepuez. These
discoveries, coming so close together , put large quantities
of rubies of different sizes and qualities into worldwide
gem markets.
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Massi,
who holds a Ph.D. from Nantes University’s Department
of Physics in France and is a GIA Graduate Gemologist, noted,
“A discovery of not one but two major ruby deposists
has a significant impact on our industry. You’ll find,
for instance, that the most common rubies on the Thai market
today are no longer from Myanmar, but rather from Mozambique.” |
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207ct
Emerald from Muzo |
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Colombia’s
Muzo mines have over the centuries produced some of
the finest emeralds ever released onto the market, with
the latest being a 207.3-carat rough stone that was
discovered in February in the Tequendama shaft, about
74 metres underground.
Emmanuelle
Thoeny Chamaillard, the marketing manager for the mine’s
sales arm, Geneva-based Muzo International, said the
find was exceptional. “”We don’t usually
find this kind of rough, for the quality and the size,”
she stated.
Muzo International,
a branch of Texma Group, was awarded exclusive mining
rights to the mines in November 2009. Shortly thereafter,
the
company launched a new operation to cut and polish all
newly produced Colombian emeralds from the legendary
emerald producing region.
When cut and
polished in Bogota, the newly discovered rough specimen
produced four gemstones, two pear-shapes of 42.66 carats
and 41.46 carats, and two cushions of 14.42 carats and
9.99 carats. |
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A rough emerald from the Muzo
mines in Colombia. |
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While impressive,
the 207.3-carat pales in comparison to several of the larger
stones discovered at Muzo. The 15,000-carat Fura Emerald was
uncovered in 2000, and earlier this year was put on display
at the Minergemas fair in Bogota.
A 12.01-carat blue-green
gem from Muzo recently broke the world record for price per
carat of an emerald sold at auction ($119,000), when it was
bought at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva for $1.44 million.
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Congress
Focus on Tourmaline |
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The
varieties of tourmaline, which provides jewellery designers
a full array of colour options in a single gemstone,
was the subject of a gemmological mini-conference, held
for the third time in conjunction with the annual CIBJO
Congress, which took place in Vicenza, Italy, in May.
The previous CIBJO mini-conferences
had rubies and emeralds, leaving many to assume that
the third edition would concentrate on sapphires. But
the conference chair and organizer Margherita Superchi,
a renowned Italian gemmologist who is the immediate
past president of the CIBJO Gemological Commission,
surprised participants by selecting instead tourmaline.
Brian Charles Cook, a
consulting exploration geologist who divides his time
between Brazil and the United States, kicked off proceedings
with a review of tourmaline mining in North and South
America. He spoke in detail about the various Brazilian
mining sources for tourmaline, and in particular about
the Paraiba locality that gave its name to the striking
cuprian elbaite tourmalines that are mined there. |
Menahem
Sevdermish, president of European Gemological
Center (EGC) of Israel and the founder
of GemewizardÆ, spoke about tourmaline
from the Morogoro area of Tanzania, and
using the colour analysis and communication
system provided a breakdown of what he
described as the “earth colour”
tourmaline varieties found in the region.
Francine
Payette, editor in chief of The Australian
Gemmologist, presented an overview of
“Tourmalines from Australia.”
It is a country with relatively few tourmaline
localities, but produces attractive green
and bluish gemstones. Payette noted that
there are other potential tourmaline localities,
but they are on tracts of land that are
leased by mining companies extracting
other, more lucrative minerals.
Federico
Pezzotta, curator of Mineralogy at the
Natural History Museum in Milan, spoke
in detail about tourmalines from the Italian
island of Elba, or elbaite, which is found
in green, red to pink, blue, orange, yellow,
colourless and multi-coloured varieties.
He said that in the vaults of Italian
museums there are vast collections of
Elba tourmaline that have never been seen
by the public. |
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Gemewizard
founder Menahem Sevdermish addressing the conference
about tourmaline from Tanzania. |
Two
more technical presentations were given by the
renowned Karl Schmetzer, an independent researcher
from Germany, who spoke about “Trapiche
Tourmalines from Zambia,” and Eugenio Scandale,
deputy rector and professor of Mineralogy at the
University of Bari in Italy, who describing tsilaisite,
a newly identified tourmaline species.
Pornsawat
Wathanakul, the academic advisor at the Gem and
Jewelry Institute of Thailand and Chair of Mineral
Sciences at Kasetsart University in Bangkok concluded
the lectures with an overview of the nomenclature
for the tourmaline family. |
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Pearls
of the World in Focus |
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Pearls
and their beauty have captivated people worldwide since ancient
times and have been a research focus at GIA (Gemological Institute
of America) for more than 80 years. As part of the Institute’s
mission to bring industry-leading gemological information to
the public, Nicholas Sturman, GIA supervisor of Pearl Identification
in Thailand, will give two presentations on pearls July 4 and
5 during the Singapore International Jewelry Expo. |
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Over
time, the industry has developed various types of cultured
pearls and pearl imitations to compete with their natural
counterparts and to meet market demand. Sturman’s
presentation focuses on the daily challenges pearl testers
in labs like GIA must address before issuing gemmological
reports, which separate natural nacreous and nonnacreous
pearls from cultured examples, and pearls from pearl-looking
materials.
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Techniques
used to culture bead-nucleated pearls in saltwater environments
are similar around the world, however, there is a degree
of variation in the methods different operators use.
This presentation discusses the history, operations,
procedures applied and mollusks used in Vietnam, Philippines
and Northern Asutralia in the quest to produce the ultimate
nucleated cultured pearl. With more than 23 years of
experience in the detailed examination of pearls, Sturman
brings a unique perspective to this topic. He obtained
his Fellowship (FGA) and Diamond Membership (DGA) of
the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and spent
more than 16 years studying pearls in the Kingdom of
Bahrain, where he served as the gemmological advisor
to the Bahrain Government’s Gem and Pearl Testing
Laboratory. He has been with GIA since 2008. |
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Public
Consultation on Conflict Minerals |
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The
European Commission has launched a public consultation focused
on responsible sourcing of minerals such as gold and gemstones
originating
from conflict-affected or high-risk areas. The public consultation
on “conflict minerals” aims to gain interested
parties’ views on a potential EU initiative
for responsible sourcing of minerals coming from conflict
zones and high-risk areas — for example, war zones,
post-war zones, and areas vulnerable to
political instability or civil unrest.
The
European Commission says it is seeking to better understand
issues such as the sourcing and security of supply of minerals,
supply chain transparency and good governance. In a statement
released online the European Commission said: “We will
use the results to help it decide whether and
how, in a reasonable and effective manner, to complement and
to continue on-going due diligence initiatives and support
for good governance in mineral mining, especially in developing
countries affected by conflict.” |
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In
reaction to the consultation the Birmingham Assay
Office has asked whether the UK jewellery industry
wants an EU legislative regulation — a law
— “that might be a sort of version
of the United States’ Dodd Frank Act”.
The Dodd Frank Act covers restrictions of gold,
tin, tungsten and tantalum originating from the
DRC and adjoining countries.
At present
the EU consultation does not specify which geographical
areas or which particular minerals might be included
though it is likely to concentrate on diamonds
and gemstones. Birmingham Assay Office has offered
a second option of UN Guiding Principles on Business
and Human Rights which have a voluntary code akin
to
the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. A statement from
the Birmingham Assay Office reads: “On one
hand the collapse of the clothing factory building
in Bangladesh suggests that voluntary codes of
practice in relation to due diligence through
the supply chain don’t work.
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the other hand the Dodd Frank Act in the USA has triggered
the law of unintended consequences, such that it has become
so bureaucratic and onerous for legitimate suppliers to
obtain gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum from the DRC and
surrounding countries that they have abandoned sourcing
from that area altogether, leading to a collapse in legitimate
trade. This has inevitably been replaced by criminal activity
and illegitimate trade to the detriment of the artisanal
mining community and the countries as a whole.” |
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Palladium
on the Mind |
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It
has been four years since palladium was afforded an official
hallmark and with assay figures up 17.8% for the metal in
2012, it appears demand for
palladium is booming.
The recent Johnson
Matthey Platinum 2013 report revealed an interesting fact
about palladium. While the rest of the world’s palladium
jewellery demand is stagnant or declining, in Britain the
appetite for the metal is reaching an all-time peak.
UK hallmarking figures
for 2012 released by the Birmingham Assay Office show that
the striking of palladium hallmarks jumped 17.8% last year,
with the
hallmarking of the lower fineness palladium 500 (Pd500), which
has 50% palladium content, increasing 190%.
So what is it about
palladium — the ‘newest precious metal’
as it is dubbed — that has made it so appealing in recent
years?
Precious Metal Pricing
The changing pace
of the gold price has been inescapable for the industry and
consumers alike and so gold has priced itself out of reach
of many shoppers. Pair that with the volume of UK brides opting
for platinum wedding and engagement rings — Johnson
Matthey’s platinum report describes the metal as retaining
“a strong position in the bridal sector” in the
UK — and palladium has managed to get its foot in the
door.
Palladium offers
brands and manufacturers a chance to create pieces with both
an attractive weight and price point, as well as positive
margins. “Palladium jewellery has established a niche
in the UK market mainly for men’s wedding bands,”
states Johnson Matthey general manager for marketing Jeremy
Coombes. “This is a highly price-sensitive category
in the jewellery market. We know from research that the purchase
of the man’s wedding bands is often left to the last
minute.” This last-minute rush can leave men with a
tighter budget to work with and as a result palladium becomes
the most viable precious metal choice.
“A 950 palladium
ring is not only price competitive with the white gold alternative
but offers a much higher purity, and if the bride is wearing
platinum the
man’s ring is in palladium it has the reassurance of
being made from the same family of metals as platinum,”
Coombes explains.
Brown & Newirth
sales director John Ball describes the growth of palladium
as a reaction to the recession. “[Palladium demand has
grown] because we promote it harder in the UK” he states.
“In Scandinavia, for example, they don’t understand
it. 18K gold is so prevalent there that distributors don’t
want to promote it, but in the UK we’ve embraced it.
Our recession started before a lot of mainland Europe and
so a different price was required and palladium was a
good option.” |
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Left to right : A model wears palladium jewellery
by Lara Bohinc. |
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Palladium’s Appeal
Nottingham jeweller
Temprell makes many of its designs in-house and palladium demand
has surged in the last two years. “We’ve seen an
increase in
customers coming with palladium already in mind – they’ve
done their research and chosen it as the most suitable metal
for them,” explains Temprell’s Sophie Messom.
Messom notes
that, as reported by many other jewellers, it’s gents
that are opting for palladium wedding bands to fulfil both a
budget and, quite often, the desire for a ring with a wider
profile.
Ball
notes that palladium has become a popular alternative to white
gold owing to its colour and that it does not require rhodium
plating. As a result the
metal in its 950 fineness offers a sense of purity that rhodium-plated
white gold cannot always provide.
While
palladium is known for its porosity and casting problems, jewellery
designer Lara Bohinc found that the metal was ideal for diamond
setting when she last year created a high jewellery collection
using palladium in collaboration with the International Palladium
Board (IPB): “I think it is a very nice metal to
use, especially for pave setting because it is very strong and
creates almost a vintage effect when set with diamonds. It is
also great for earrings because it is
lighter so you can make pieces bigger than in gold or platinum.”
At Temprell,
its designers have found the metal to be slightly fragile when
used for precious stone setting. “As a company we’re
selective of the styles of gem-set palladium rings that we manufacture
as we feel the metal can be too brittle,” says Messom.
“But it’s not such a problem with gentlemen’s
wedding bands as they are [typically] machine spun, compressed,
wrought metal.”
While
Bohinc’s high jewellery line has price points hitting
tens of thousands of dollars, due mostly to the scale of the
designs and the precious stones
incorporated, of interest is the lack of commercial jewellery
made using palladium. One issue has been the fact that mass-producing
palladium is not the
easiest of processes due to porosity issues. As a result large
manufacturers in China that have attempted to make wholesale
collections in palladium have all but ceased their production.
Demand for palladium in China itself has also been feeble. Last
year alone falling production in China was the cause of a decline
to 445,000 ounces in gross world demand for palladium for jewellery
manufacturing. |
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According
to Johnson Matthey there are a number of reasons why palladium
jewellery has failed to establish a secure market position in
China. “The decline in demand for palladium on a global
scale relates to the failure of palladium jewellery to gain
widespread consumer acceptance in China, where it does not compete
in the bridal market but was introduced as a cheaper alternative
to platinum in fashion jewellery,” explains Coombes. “Low
initial product quality followed by the erosion of retail margins
as the palladium price increased over the years put it into
disfavour with retailers and consumers alike, and the rising
demand for platinum and yellow gold jewellery in China of late
has prompted most jewellery manufacturers to concentrate on
supplying these more saleable items.”
Indeed,
for so long palladium has been promoted as platinum’s
more affordable sister, with retailers often relating back to
it being part of the platinum
family while selling to consumers. But with gold and platinum
prices closing in on one another in recent times and platinum
becoming once more a viable
option for consumers, have efforts to market palladium completely
stalled?
Back
in the UK Bohinc shares her thoughts: “I think it will
take a bit longer for consumers to understand and appreciate
the metal. It took almost a century for diamonds to get the
status they now enjoy so it may take a while to build palladium’s
reputation as a metal on par with gold and platinum.”
Indeed, the way in which jewellers are marketing palladium to
their customers is key, as Charles Green’s head of design
Pip Beale explains: “We are finding that shops do vary
in their approach when selling palladium. Some retailers are
pushing the metal, whereas others only go to it as a last option.”
The desirability
of the metal in the mainstream has also been called into question.
In an ideal world palladium jewellery would be more widespread
than
the men’s wedding bands for which it has become ubiquitous.
But does its grey colour make it less appealing to the female
of the species? “Palladium is
not unsexy, it is the newest precious metal and it needs more
time and education,” explains Ball.
In
the store at Temprell, however, female customers selecting palladium
are almost unheard of. “We don’t see many ladies
with palladium diamondset
engagement rings so there’s a shortage in the sales of
ladies palladium wedding bands,” states Messom. |
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Palladium 500
There has been a rising debate among jewellery manufacturers,
retailers and even the UK assay offices about the growth of
palladium 500, or Pd500, which
has a purity of 50% palladium. The main argument isthat the
metal is not deemed precious enough to be sold alongside 18K
gold and 950 platinum but its
present popularity is unavoidable and the figures speak for
themselves. In 2012 the end-of-year hallmarking figures for
Pd500, collated from all four UK
assay offices, revealed that the number of Pd500 articles hallmarked
totalled 21,167, up 190% on 2011’s figures. “Palladium
500 has gone through the roof,”
states Birmingham Assay Office’s assay master and chief
executive Michael Allchin. “[There has been] exponential
increase in demand for this product,
mainly wedding rings.”
On the subject of Pd500, manufacturer Charles Green, which hand
makes all of its rings without the use of casting, says the
metal is one it is keeping its eye
on. “To date we have not stocked Pd500 as palladium 950
is doing well enough without muddying the waters with a new
alloy that could confuse the public at this early stage,”
states Beale.
Brown & Newirth on the other hand is supplying Pd500 rings
to a number of UK jewellery retailers. “The reason we
[provide Pd500] is because it’s requested
owing to its price point,” explains Ball. “Palladium
500 goes against the grain of everything we do with precious
metals but it is required. You can’t dictate
what the market should sell. We can give advice, try to sell
the finest metals, but we’re here to listen to the retailers
who in turn listen to consumers.”
The metal’s lower price point and the issues with consumer
understanding of palladium does risk positioning Pd500 in a
separate realm to gold and
platinum, something that has been noted. “I am not certain
of the reason for [the rise in Pd500 demand] but I suspect that
it is to allow palladium to compete
against lower karat white gold and non-precious white metals
such as titanium and stainless steel,” says Coombes. “The
latter materials do inhibit sales growth for palladium bridal
jewellery in the US, for instance.”
In the US palladium can be found bracketed alongside non-precious
metals, especially when used for men’s wedding bands.
This might not yet be the
case in the UK, but Messom says the lower fineness of the metal
does detract from its precious connotations: “For us,
palladium 500, with such a low fineness, would not be considered
fine jewellery.”
On the flipside there is the argument that 9K gold, with only
37.5% gold content, is considered a precious metal and is used
widely in manufacture and wedding bands. So why should Pd500
be treated differently?Allchin states his viewpoint: “Our
traditional 9K gold is only 375 parts per thousand, and 14K
gold 585 parts per thousand, so 500 parts per thousand palladium
is fine for me.” |
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Driving Palladium
Forward
The UK jewellery industry has experienced an amount of palladium
marketing such as the IPB’s work with high-profile fashion
and jewellery designers like
Lara Bohinc and last month’s cover star Hussein Chalayan,
alongside its sponsorship of the British Fashion Council’s
Rock Vault initiative. The Palladium
Alliance’s 2011 campaign working with Vivienne Westwood
and Central Saint Martins students also helped to grant the
metal some cool points among
young designers while positioning in front of consumers. At
a trade level, Charles Green last year ran its fifth annual
student design competition using
palladium, while the Crafts Council of Ireland has hosted
a laser welding programme where students created brooches
using palladium.
The decline in UK marketing of gold and platinum from the
World Gold Council and the Platinum Guild International, both
of which have been focused on
growth markets such as India and China, has opened up marketing
prospects for palladium. While the IPB has yet to announce
whether it has any marketing
plans for palladium in the UK this year, Coombes believes
the metal has managed to build its place in the UK jewellery
industry without the need for rgescale
promotion. “But it seems likely that without a properly
co-ordinated consumer-focused campaign the size of the market
may not increase much from this
level,” he concedes. “We would look to primary
producers of palladium to fund such a campaign, but in practice
the candidates for this will be limited. South
African platinum group metal mining companies are always likely
to prioritise the promotion of platinum jewellery, since their
principal mined product, in terms of both weight and value,
is platinum.”
Allchin agrees with Coombes that more could be done. “All
precious metals could do with some generic marketing [but]
there’s an opportunity for the
palladium suppliers to steal a march in our market.”
Arguably it is down to jewellery manufacturers themselves
to keep the metal front of mind for retailers
by working with it and providing the metal as premier precious
option. And at a trade level, at least, it appears that palladium
has already moved on from
the world’s newest precious metal to retailers’
growing source of men’s bridal jewellery sales. Only
time and 2013’s annual hallmarking figures will show
whether palladium is more than just a recessionary remedy
for jewellers. |
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