Location adds shine to rare diamond sale (hktdc.com)


	Jean-Marc Lieberherr, General Manager Marketing of Rio Tinto Diamonds, reports growing interest from Asian diamond merchants

Hong Kong is a strong Asian hub for the Rio Tinto Diamonds Argyle Pink Tender, known as the world's most exclusive pink diamond sale by tender.

Together with five other locations – New York, London, Geneva, Tokyo and Perth – the city ranks as a secure centre for holding a prestigious bidding event for the rarest and most precious pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Western Australia.

Seen on the fingers of international celebrities J-Lo and Victoria Beckham, pink diamonds are rare, expensive and exclusive. "In the case of Argyle's pink diamonds they are truly a scarce product – popular, but rare," said Jean-Marc Lieberherr, General Manager Marketing of Rio Tinto Diamonds, the diamonds sales and marketing arm of the Rio Tinto group, one of the world's leading mining companies.

To give an idea of how costly these stones are, a one carat, high clarity white diamond could be HK$117,000 – HK$156,000 (US$15,000 - US$20,000), whereas the equivalent pink diamond would be around HK$31 million (US$400,000). To add to the scarcity factor, the Argyle mine which was first discovered in 1979 and operated since 1985 will most likely stop production in 2018. It now produces around 30 million carats a year or roughly around 17 per cent of the world's diamonds.

"Out of the 30 million carats of rough diamonds, only a tiny proportion - around 50,000 carats - are pink diamonds, making them very exclusive," added Mr Lieberherr.

Secure hub

He said that security and location of customers are among the top factors when holding the Rio Tinto Diamonds Argyle Pink Tender, so Rio Tinto has picked six places in the world which are secure international hubs with a huge demand for top end diamonds.

"We started the tender in Hong Kong in 1991 and we will continue to hold the bidding tender here because of the growing interest from Asian diamond merchants," he added.

The China market may be getting stronger but there are no immediate plans to hold a tender in either Shanghai or Beijing. "We'll remain in Hong Kong as it works well for us. Besides, Hong Kong is stronger than ever as a hub for pink diamonds whether directly for bidding or indirectly as a consumer market," he said.

A total of 65 Argyle diamonds greater than "50 points" (half a carat) are available for bidding in the 2006 tender. These come from rough diamonds which are prepared and polished throughout the year by skilled artisans and technicians at the Rio Tinto Diamonds' polishing facility in Perth and sent for grading to three independent laboratories.

Universal appeal

The clientele invited to the viewing can choose to bid for individual stones, multiple stones or make a global bid for the entire Tender collection. "Last year's tender was incredibly successful and the competition for the 60 rare pink diamonds was fierce. Successful bidders were broadly speaking evenly distributed around the six locations, showing that the interest for these stones is universal," Mr Lieberherr said.

He reckons that the world can't get enough of these pink stones. "The world's appetite for rare pink diamonds grows unabated as does the price for these gems. Diamond pricing is generally a reflection of the market dynamics of supply and demand. I am very confident we will get very good prices for them as they are so rare."

Besides Argyle, Rio Tinto gets its diamonds from the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada and Murowa Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe.