Mining major Rio Tinto has achieved an outstanding result at its first Beyond Rare™ Tender: The Art Series, a new sale format for its diamonds business. The tender featured a collection of 87 rare coloured diamonds, including pink and red diamonds from the Argyle Diamond Mine in Australia and yellow diamonds from the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada.
The collection, titled Born of this World, attracted strong global interest from luxury jewellers, collectors and connoisseurs, who bid for the 48 lots, weighing 29.96 carats in total. The successful bidders came from various regions, including Australia, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, US and Israel.
Sinead Kaufman, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Minerals, said the tender reflected the global demand and value creation for highly collectible natural coloured diamonds. “We are delighted with the results from this new sale format for Rio Tinto’s diamonds business, delivering results that reflect the global demand for highly collectible natural coloured diamonds and the resulting value creation,” she said.
The tender included seven sets of diamonds (Masterpieces), 11 perfectly matched pairs and 30 single diamonds, all with exceptional provenance and rarity. The only Fancy Red diamond in the collection, a 0.21 carat round brilliant cut, was won by Kimberley Fine Diamonds, a bespoke jeweller based in Kununurra, near the Argyle Diamond Mine. Owner Frauke Bolten-Boshammer said she was thrilled to keep the extraordinary gem in Australia. “It is an extraordinary diamond of esteemed provenance, with a beauty that reflects its magnificent birthplace here in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia,” she said.
Another successful bidder was Gimel, a distinguished Japanese jeweller that has been creating hand-crafted pieces with Argyle pink diamonds for the past 25 years. Kaoru Kay Akihara, Gimel’s lead designer, said she was looking forward to transforming the diamonds into works of art. “We have a long relationship with the beautiful and rare Argyle pink diamonds and we are looking forward to transforming our successful bids into works of art, to be treasured for future generations,” she said.
The tender also saw strong participation from Kunming International Ltd, a longstanding Argyle Pink Diamonds Authorised Partner™. Harsh Maheshwari, Executive Director, said the diamonds were in a league of their own and would continue to command high prices. “We see strong ongoing market demand for the truly rare – irreplaceable fancy-coloured natural diamonds with impeccable provenance. These diamonds are in a league of their own and will consistently transcend the fluctuations of economic cycles,” he said.
Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond Mine, which ceased production on 3rd November, 2020, was the source of almost the entire world’s supply of rare pink, red, blue and violet diamonds. Rio Tinto continues to manage the Argyle Pink Diamonds™ brand through sales of remaining inventory, secondary market platforms, certification processes and creative collaborations with Argyle Pink Diamonds Icon Partners™ and other renowned national and international jewellers.
Rio Tinto also owns and operates the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada, and is exploring for new diamond deposits in Canada and Africa, where it has signed an exploration joint venture agreement with Endiama, the national diamond mining company of Angola, to evaluate the Chiri kimberlite in the Lunda Sul Province of Angola.