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Metech Intl
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WBdisciple
Elite |
07-Aug-2022 22:31
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Metech: Lab-Grown Diamond Facility in Singapore to Commence Commercial Production
&bull With the fire safety certificate issued by Singapore Civil Defence Force, Asian Eco can commence commercial production at its lab-grown diamond facilities located at Kallang
&bull A pilot test of the lab-grown diamond facilities has been successful
&bull Asian Eco has the technological capabilities to produce lab-grown diamonds that are used for jewellery production
&bull A lab-grown diamond is a diamond: chemically, physically and optically identical to a mined diamond, hence without the need for mining, lab-grown diamonds are a sustainable source of this important material
Singapore, 5 August 2022 &ndash SGX-listed Metech International Limited (&ldquo Metech&rdquo or the &ldquo Company&rdquo , and together with its subsidiaries, the &ldquo Group&rdquo ), is pleased to announce that the lab-grown diamond facilities in Singapore of its joint venture company, Asian Eco Technology Pte. Ltd. (&ldquo Asian Eco&rdquo ) (&ldquo 亚 洲 易 高 生 态 科 技 有 限 公 司 &rdquo ), can commence commercial production, following the receipt of the fire safety certificate issued by Singapore Civil Defence Force.
A pilot test of the lab-grown diamond facilities has been successfully completed.
As announced previously, Asian Eco entered into a 3-year lease agreement for an industrial property located at Kallang for the production of lab-grown diamonds.
A wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhongxin Minghua (Shanghai) International Trade Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Nolash (Shanghai) Pte Ltd.), is now a registered member (企 业 编 号 : 1003) of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange with effect from 13 July 2022.
Growing Industrial Applications of Lab-Growth Diamonds
Diamonds are more widely known to be used in jewellery but diamonds are also commonly used for industrial applications in oil & gas, medical equipment, aerospace, among others.
With an impressive combination of chemical, physical and mechanical properties that are ideal for a wide array of industrial applications, there is increasing commercialisation of scientific discoveries for the industrial applications of diamond in the next generation of semiconductors, aerospace, electric
vehicles, medical equipment, among others.
To harness such opportunities, Asian Eco has previously entered in various memorandum of understandings and collaboration agreements with strategic partners and prominent institutions in the areas of research and development and commercialisation.
Commenting on the commencement of Asian Eco&rsquo s commercial production of lab-grown diamonds in Singapore, Ms. Samantha Hua, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Metech, said: &ldquo This is a major milestone in our business strategy, accelerating our growth ambitions within the global lab-grown diamond industry that continues to exhibit positive growth prospects with its sustainability features.
Aligned with the macro trends of the global lab-grown diamond market, we aim to progressively scale up our production capabilities in Singapore and harness new opportunities.&rdquo
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Everyday
Elite |
06-Aug-2022 10:18
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Mon share price? Up and Up...Cheers! | ||
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Everyday
Elite |
06-Aug-2022 10:15
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Metech International Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore) (Company Registration Number 199206445M) PRESS RELEASE Lab-Grown Diamond Facility in Singapore to Commence Commercial Production &bull With the fire safety certificate issued by Singapore Civil Defence Force, Asian Eco can commence commerical production at its lab-grown diamond facilities located at Kallang &bull A pilot test of the lab-grown diamond facilities has been successful &bull Asian Eco has the technological capabilities to produce lab-grown diamonds that are used for jewellery production &bull A lab-grown diamond is a diamond: chemically, physically and optically identical to a mined diamond, hence without the need for mining, lab-grown diamonds are a sustainable source of this important material Singapore, 5 August 2022 &ndash SGX-listed Metech International Limited (&ldquo Metech&rdquo or the &ldquo Company&rdquo , and together with its subsidiaries, the &ldquo Group&rdquo ), is pleased to announce that the lab-grown diamond facilities in Singapore of its joint venture company, Asian Eco Technology Pte. Ltd. (&ldquo Asian Eco&rdquo ) (&ldquo 亚 洲 易 高 生 态 科 技 有 限 公 司 &rdquo ), can commence commercial production, following the receipt of the fire safety certificate issued by Singapore Civil Defence Force. A pilot test of the lab-grown diamond facilities has been successfully completed. As announced previously, Asian Eco entered into a 3-year lease agreement for an industrial property located at Kallang for the production of lab-grown diamonds. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhongxin Minghua (Shanghai) International Trade Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Nolash (Shanghai) Pte Ltd.), is now a registered member (企 业 编 号 : 1003) of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange with effect from 13 July 2022. Growing Industrial Applications of Lab-Growth Diamonds Diamonds are more widely known to be used in jewellery but diamonds are also commonly used for industrial applications in oil & gas, medical equipment, aerospace, among others. With an impressive combination of chemical, physical and mechanical properties that are ideal for a wide array of industrial applications, there is increasing commercialisation of scientific discoveries for the industrial applications of diamond in the next generation of semiconductors, aerospace, electric vehicles, medical equipment, among others. To harness such opportunities, Asian Eco has previously entered in various memorandum of understandings and collaboration agreements with strategic partners and prominent institutions in the areas of research and development and commercialisation. Commenting on the commencement of Asian Eco&rsquo s commercial production of lab-grown diamonds in Singapore, Ms. Samantha Hua, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Metech, said: &ldquo This is a major milestone in our business strategy, accelerating our growth ambitions within the global lab-grown diamond industry that continues to exhibit positive growth prospects with its sustainability features. Aligned with the macro trends of the global lab-grown diamond market, we aim to progressively scale up our production capabilities in Singapore and harness new opportunities.&rdquo -ENDAbout Metech International Limited (Bloomberg: CENR:SP / Reuters: METE.SI / SGX Stock Code: V3M) Listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, Metech International Limited (&ldquo Metech&rdquo ) has a multi-pronged business model that aligns with the macro trends in the area of environmental and sustainability. While proactively evaluating new business opportunities to broaden its business model, Metech continues to build on its capabilities and extend the value propositions of its business units. _________________________________________________________________________ Issued on behalf of Metech International Limited by 8PR Asia Pte Ltd. Media & Investor Contacts: This announcement has been prepared by the Company and reviewed by the Company&rsquo s Sponsor, Novus Corporate Finance Pte. Ltd. (the &ldquo Sponsor&rdquo ), in compliance with Rule 226(2)(b) of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the &ldquo SGX-ST&rdquo ) Listing Manual Section B: Rules of Catalist. This announcement has not been examined or approved by the SGX-ST and the SGX-ST assumes no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, including the correctness of any of the statements or opinions made or reports contained in this announcement. The contact person for the Sponsor is Mr. Pong Chen Yih, Chief Operating Officer, at 7 Temasek Boulevard, #18-03B Suntec Tower 1, Singapore 038987, telephone (65) 6950 2188. Mr. Alex TAN Mobile: +65 9451 5252 Email: [email protected] |
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Everyday
Elite |
06-Aug-2022 10:08
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Thanks Spursfan! Cheers to all vested ! 
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spursfan
Supreme |
06-Aug-2022 09:30
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PRESS RELEASE Lab-Grown Diamond Facility in Singapore to Commence Commercial Production Singapore, 5 August 2022 &ndash SGX-listed Metech International Limited (&ldquo Metech&rdquo or the &ldquo Company&rdquo , and together with its subsidiaries, the &ldquo Group&rdquo ), is pleased to announce that the lab-grown diamond facilities in Singapore of its joint venture company, Asian Eco Technology Pte. Ltd. (&ldquo Asian Eco&rdquo ) (&ldquo 亚 洲 易 高 生 态 科 技 有 限 公 司 &rdquo ), can commence commercial production, following the receipt of the fire safety certificate issued by Singapore Civil Defence Force. A pilot test of the lab-grown diamond facilities has been successfully completed. As announced previously, Asian Eco entered into a 3-year lease agreement for an industrial property located at Kallang for the production of lab-grown diamonds. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhongxin Minghua (Shanghai) International Trade Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Nolash (Shanghai) Pte Ltd.), is now a registered member (企 业 编 号 : 1003) of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange with effect from 13 July 2022. https://links.sgx.com/1.0.0/corporate-announcements/D2IJR7I6TE4M56HP/726398_Commence%20Commercial%20Production.pdf |
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Everyday
Elite |
04-Aug-2022 12:26
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For those vested try emailing Alex of Investor relations.
For any media or investor enquiries, please contact : [email protected] I hv emailed several times. Always told they will update us.Lately was told still in progress....There must be an indicative deadline for the production of the diamonds... |
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WBdisciple
Elite |
04-Aug-2022 08:23
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Why Passing on Lab-Grown Diamonds Might Be a Risky Bet Retailers would be wise to embrace this growing segment of the market instead of shunning it, Peter Smith writes. Peter Smith is an industry consultant, speaker, sales trainer, and author. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. The year was, as I recall, 2004, maybe 2005. It was a diamond conference at The Plaza hotel in New York. Retailers and suppliers had gathered for a couple of days of education, speeches, and debate on the diamond business and, as it happens, the single most pressing issue of the day for many of the retailers present&ndash online commerce. The retailers were having a collective conniption about the specter of online competition, devoid as it was of the geographic advantages that brick-and-mortar stores previously enjoyed, absent any guardrails on suggested retail pricing, and fraught with the uncertainty of the unknown. The only thing retailers seemed to agree on was that this new &ldquo competition&rdquo was going to be terrible for them, and there emerged, unsurprisingly, a mounting chorus of resentment directed at any suppliers that did business with the online retailing pirates. On the final day of the conference, Maurice Tempelsman, the statesman-like chairman of Lazare Kaplan and longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was taking questions from the audience after his keynote. I cannot for the life of me remember what Mr. Tempelsman spoke about in his address, but what followed during the question-and-answer segment is seared into my consciousness. One of the retailers raised his hand and, after he was recognized, didn&rsquo t really ask a question, but took his moment to make a declarative statement. It went something like this: &ldquo We are all livid about this selling online business and we think there should be a boycott of any company that does business with online sellers. What do you think?&rdquo Mr. Tempelsman considered the question for a moment before responding. &ldquo I see the advent of the online selling as one would a stream flowing down a mountain,&rdquo he said. &ldquo You can put a rock in its path, but the water will flow over and around the rock and continue on its journey regardless. You could, of course, pretend it isn&rsquo t happening, but you would do better to accept the inevitability of what is happening and find a way to work with it.&rdquo I think about that simile whenever our industry is faced with major disruptive change, and that has rarely been truer than today as we reckon with the emergence of lab-grown diamonds. Few issues in recent years have divided retailers like lab-grown diamonds. I&rsquo ve encountered some who are borderline militant in their opposition to lab-grown, insisting they will never sell the product. I know other retailers who believe lab-grown is the future and have begun to shape their diamond stories accordingly. The danger with seismic change is that we often get a shorter runway than we would like before having to make hugely important decisions, choices that can impact our businesses for years to come. It is human nature to want to keep doing what we know, to pretend that any disruption will be temporary, or mitigated in its scope. Keep on keeping on, we might say. Alas, that&rsquo s not how disruptive change works. &ldquo While it is easy to become trapped in moral arguments and intellectual debates about lab-grown, we would do well to pay attention to what customers are doing.&rdquo A cursory look across our industry shows a great many retailers already embracing lab-grown. That includes behemoths Walmart and Signet. It includes Macy&rsquo s and JC Penney&rsquo s, and online players such as Blue Nile and, of course, Brilliant Earth. De Beers has Lightbox and we&rsquo ve recently seen LVMH, the biggest luxury goods company in the world and parent company of Tiffany & Co., invest in Israel-based Lusix, the first 100 percent solar-powered producer of diamonds. What is less evident, but which is becoming increasingly more of a factor, is the presence of lab-grown in the independent retail world. According to The Edge Retail Academy, while lab-grown diamond sales are still a small percentage of overall diamond business, independent jewelers grew their lab-grown business on a comparative basis by 45 percent in the trailing 12 months through May 2022. ERA estimates loose lab-grown diamonds alone accounted for nearly 6 percent of all sales. If we imagine that lab-grown diamonds might soon reach 10 percent of all independent jewelry sales (a conservative estimate given the growth in loose and lab-grown finished diamond jewelry), we might be looking at an $8 billion business in the United States alone before the year is out. And that number assumes that we retreat as an industry to about $80 billion in total sales, a number below last year&rsquo s $94 billion, but far in excess of our previous historical high of $62 billion in 2019. That is clearly a huge amount of business and, for me, the best evidence that the end consumer is telling us lab-grown diamonds matter to them. &ldquo Embracing lab-grown diamonds is not a repudiation of your business ethics, traditions, or customs. It is not a statement of disloyalty to all those customers who have purchased, and will purchase, mined diamonds from you.&rdquo Furthermore, the more people buy lab-grown diamond products, the more the psychological barriers to entry diminish, as the social-proof of friends and family members buying lab-grown gives license to others to buy a product they might have harbored some trepidation about in the past. While it is easy to become trapped in moral arguments and intellectual debates about lab-grown, we would do well to pay attention to what customers are doing. If, as is likely, the 5.8 percent of loose lab-grown diamonds being purchased in independent jewelry stores are being bought disproportionally for engagement rings, that is&mdash pardon the pun&mdash a ringing endorsement from our newest and future customers about what they think. That first, and hugely important, first major jewelry purchase will set the tone for their views on lab-grown and opting out of that conversation is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Embracing lab-grown diamonds as an option is not a repudiation of your business ethics, traditions, or customs. It is not a statement of disloyalty to all those customers who have purchased, and will purchase, mined diamonds from you. While we&rsquo ve all been consumed in the COVID economy for the past couple of years, the landscape has changed, and things won&rsquo t ever go back to how they used to be. Having a lab-grown offering that complements your natural diamonds, adopting the same standards of curated stories, training your teams on the benefits of mined and lab-grown, and presenting your customers with both options would seem, to me, to be a smart business move. Having both options ensures that you won&rsquo t be perceived as defensive when a customer asks, as they will increasingly do, about lab-grown diamonds. You will have the credibility to speak to the benefits of both in a way that simply won&rsquo t be possible if you fail to provide both options to your customers. More importantly, as we return to a more challenging retail environment, opting out of a potential $8 billion business feels like an awfully risky bet. |
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Everyday
Elite |
01-Aug-2022 10:14
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JV is still in progress...not sure why they are taking so long...we just hv to wait patiently...no choice... | ||
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For_The_Next_Leg
Master |
01-Aug-2022 08:26
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Everyday a new retailer gets into the lab grown diamond industry. The industry and business is really booming.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/michael-hill-takes-a-shine-to-lab-grown-diamonds/DTHI2U34CV3X4TUQXN4ZEWBQSA/ |
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tedlim
Veteran |
28-Jul-2022 10:18
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Awaiting for their announcement on their lab-grown diamond manufacturing in Singapore..once that happens, this stock will likely rocket up | ||
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For_The_Next_Leg
Master |
28-Jul-2022 08:15
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$MetechIntl(V3M.SI) my opinion is that the growth of lab grown diamonds is the result of the war. But since more companies are going into that sector, the trend is definitely here to stay.
https://www.professionaljeweller.com/2022-could-be-the-turning-point-for-lab-grown-diamonds/?amp=1 |
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WBdisciple
Elite |
26-Jul-2022 08:17
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seems that 20 cents may be a good entry price... | ||
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Everyday
Elite |
26-Jul-2022 07:17
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SSH Simon Eng bought fr Wu 5m shares for 1m.
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Everyday
Elite |
26-Jul-2022 06:47
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25th July SSH Wu sold 5m shares for 1m. Likely to finance his increased share in the Joint Venture | ||
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tedlim
Veteran |
22-Jul-2022 16:02
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Good vol over the past few days.. | ||
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Everyday
Elite |
22-Jul-2022 11:31
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1m shares exchanged hands | ||
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For_The_Next_Leg
Master |
18-Jul-2022 08:06
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$MetechIntl(V3M.SI) "The data shows that in a few short years, lab-grown diamonds have gone on to account for $5.9 billion (£4.7 billion), or 7-8%, of the global market."
https://www.professionaljeweller.com/feature-will-lab-grown-diamonds-ever-overtake-natural-sales/?amp=1 |
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WBdisciple
Elite |
18-Jul-2022 07:50
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&lsquo A half-carat isn&rsquo t going to cut it&rsquo : The Millennials sparking a diamond revolution The mythology of hauling something sparkly, precious and rare from deep inside the earth, that took billions of years to make, has always been central to the diamond story. But what if you could grow that exact thing in a laboratory? Would you still covet it? Welcome to the debate dividing the jewellery world &ndash and brides. https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-half-carat-isn-t-going-to-cut-it-the-millennials-sparking-a-diamond-revolution-20220608-p5as8y.html By Sian Powell JULY 15, 2022 Alexis Clarke&rsquo s strawberry-blonde hair is pulled back from her face, and she&rsquo s wearing no-nonsense black leggings, black running shoes and an olive-green puffer jacket on this chilly day in Thirroul, a northern suburb of the NSW coastal city of Wollongong. Glowing slightly, she looks as though she&rsquo s just been to the gym (in fact, she has). But we&rsquo re not meeting in this ordinary cafe to discuss gyms or fitness, or to moan about the damp, chilly weather or even to chew over the highlights of the one-time coal-mining village of Thirroul. We&rsquo re here to talk about diamonds, those brilliant multifaceted cut gems that have funded wars, stoked conflict, graced the heads of royalty (both Hollywood and actual) and sparkled from millions of ring fingers around the world. On Clarke&rsquo s hand shines a ring that both tells the world she&rsquo s engaged to be married and serves as a symbol of a global upheaval in the multibillion-dollar diamond industry. Her engagement ring is a thing of delicate beauty and twinkles when she moves her hand. The central diamond is flanked by smaller diamonds on a band of 18-carat gold. So far, so traditional. But these diamonds were created, rather than dug out of the ground. It&rsquo s a revolution that has divided the industry. Clarke, 38, adores her thoroughly modern ring. She designed it herself and it turned out exactly as she&rsquo d hoped. She holds her hand out and smiles, &ldquo I love it. And it&rsquo s forever.&rdquo Chemically and physically identical to mined stones, the so-called &ldquo lab-grown&rdquo diamonds in her ring are often described as &ldquo factory grown&rdquo and &ldquo synthetic&rdquo by critics who shudder at the incoming tide of man-made gems. Yet even experts need specialist equipment to tell the difference between them to know whether a stone has been matured for billions of years in the earth&rsquo s mantle or produced in a matter of weeks or days in a lab or factory. Traditionalists point out that these man-made diamonds are rapidly losing value as manufacturing techniques are refined and production increases. They say the stones are environmentally suspect because creating diamonds requires immense amounts of energy (although it has yet to be finally determined whether more energy, in total, is needed to make one than to pull it out of the earth). On the plus side for consumers, the stones are considerably cheaper: there&rsquo s simply a lot more bling for your buck. Many are voting with their wallets &ndash twice or three times the size for the same price? Yes, please. New Zealand-born Clarke has lived with her Australian partner, Trent Akhurst, for 10 years. They own a house a few minutes from central Thirroul and have a five-year-old daughter. The family just spent 12 months travelling around Australia in a caravan. Akhurst, 46, works in a nearby coal mine, and the couple own and run an online company, At Health Australia, which provides organic protein powders and collagen supplements to health food shops and the like. Last year, Akhurst said he wanted to cement their commitment to a life together. He wanted Clarke to design the ring, then he would formally ask her to marry him. &ldquo He actually brought it up, saying, &lsquo I think it&rsquo s time, but can you choose the ring, and once I&rsquo ve got the ring, I&rsquo ll propose, in my own time,&rsquo &rdquo she says with a smile. &ldquo I found it overwhelming, choosing the ring for myself, I don&rsquo t know how guys choose. It&rsquo s such a huge decision and choice.&rdquo Sipping an almond chai latte in the cafe, Clarke says she had an idea of what she wanted her ring to look like, but it took her a long time to get started. Travelling through remote Australia in a caravan was not conducive to finding high-end jewellery, and the pandemic lockdowns meant she couldn&rsquo t try on engagement rings for size and shape in shops. She finally found the design she wanted on Instagram, took a screenshot and filed the image away. A little later, listening to a business-oriented podcast that she likes, she was struck by the ideas of jeweller Lauren Chang Sommer, co-owner of the Sydney-based lab-grown diamond specialists Moi Moi Fine Jewellery. &ldquo How often do you make a purchase like this? Once in a lifetime. So you want it to be really special, and I didn&rsquo t want the price to limit my options.&rdquo &ldquo I was immediately drawn to it,&rdquo Clarke says. &ldquo Just in terms of knowing where your diamonds come from. She also spoke about them being more ethical for the planet. And I&rsquo d always wanted quite a big diamond. How often do you make a purchase like this? Once in a lifetime. So you want it to be really special, and I didn&rsquo t want the price to limit my options.&rdquo Clarke had been wearing her grandmother&rsquo s classic engagement ring, set with a beautiful old garnet, and she loved it. But Akhurst wanted her to have a ring that he could give to her. &ldquo I was open to other gemstones,&rdquo she says, &ldquo but for me it really comes down to a diamond lasting forever everything a diamond symbolises in terms of weddings. It just felt right to have a diamond.&rdquo Her collaboration on the ring design was conducted online. She sent the screenshot image to Moi Moi, and in return received detailed computer drawings and eventually a render. The couple&rsquo s budget bounced up a little, but with a house and a child they were pragmatic, and the final price came in at a little under $10,000. Advised by Moi Moi, she eventually settled on an oval-cut, 1.67 carat, white centre diamond flanked by an alternating combination of four small marquise diamonds (a narrow eye-shaped cut with pointed ends) and four small round-cut diamonds &ndash adding up to two carats. The central diamond came with a third-party grading report confirming the stone&rsquo s colour, clarity, carat and cut. To begin with, Clarke took her ring off for safekeeping when she went surfing, but she&rsquo s now sure it won&rsquo t come off, so it stays on her finger all the time. &ldquo It&rsquo s exactly how I wanted it,&rdquo she says. &ldquo If I&rsquo d not gone with a lab-grown diamond, I would have had to sacrifice some size, I think, which would be a shame.&rdquo She doesn&rsquo t care if the diamonds were manufactured rather than mined. &ldquo We&rsquo ve ripped [them] out of the earth in these dirty environments there&rsquo s nothing glamorous about the mining industry.&rdquo She picked the ring up in January, and later that month, when the family were holidaying at a favourite camping and surf spot in Crescent Head, on the NSW Mid North Coast, Akhurst went down on a knee and asked her to marry him. Their daughter looked on. &ldquo It was magic,&rdquo Clarke says. The wedding will be in summer next year. Technicians from the US firm General Electric manufactured the first diamonds in 1954, but it took decades to refine the techniques and produce larger and cost-effective gem-quality stones. Their original HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) method uses a large mechanical press to simulate the conditions that prevail deep in the earth&rsquo s mantle. Extreme pressure and high temperatures are applied to a diamond seed, which becomes a kind of template for carbon to grow in a lattice, layer by layer. This technique has now largely been replaced by chemical vapour deposition, or CVD. The seed is put into a plasma reactor chamber and a mix of gases &ndash including, usually, carbon-rich methane &ndash is added at very low pressure. The gases are heated to create plasma, breaking the molecular bonds. Carbon atoms attach to the seed, which slowly grows, again layer by layer. Both methods use enormous amounts of energy. The champions of mined, or natural, diamonds note that by far the most manufactured diamonds are produced in China, followed by India, and that neither nation is known for promoting high environmental and labour standards. According to a report published in February on the state-owned China Daily website, China produces about half the world&rsquo s supply, mostly in Henan province, in central China, where the small city of Zhecheng has become known as the nation&rsquo s diamond capital, and where billions of yuan (hundreds of millions of dollars) have been invested in diamond-producing facilities. On the second floor of Sydney&rsquo s palatial Queen Victoria Building, Lauren Chang Sommer gazes over the extensive Moi Moi jewellery store she founded with her sister, surveying the high arched windows, the lush cerise carpet and the wide range of lab-grown jewellery on display: rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces shimmering in their glass cases. Wearing a conservative black suit and intensely pink high heels that match the store&rsquo s shocking pink sofa, she is, of course, sparkling with diamonds: in her ears, on her hands, around her neck. She and her sister are Sydney-born and -bred, with an Australian mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father, who settled here as a teenager. The sisters set up shop in 2004 selling moissanite, another lab-grown jewel. This inspired the name Moi Moi, which also means &ldquo little sister&rdquo in Cantonese, a language spoken by their father. Moi Moi launched into lab-grown diamonds as a natural progression, becoming one of the first Australian jewellery companies to be fully invested in both the HPHT and CVD varieties. &ldquo It&rsquo s an entirely new concept, an entirely new category for the jewellery industry,&rdquo Sommer says. The provenance of most such diamonds is traceable, she argues, via a tiny identifying individual laser inscription that&rsquo s invisible to the naked eye. Still, Moi Moi sources stones from a trader, and Sommer doesn&rsquo t always know where the diamonds were made. &ldquo You can tell but not always. These things will become more defined as we evolve as an industry.&rdquo A growing number of modern buyers want to ensure the stones they choose are not tainted by association with violent warlords, or organised crime, or exploited labour, or Third World environmental carnage. They want to know how sustainable the mines are, how many tonnes of rock and dirt have to be shifted per carat of mined diamond. They can also raise an eyebrow at lab-diamonds, especially if the provenance is unclear. Last year, Pandora, the Danish company that makes much of the world&rsquo s high street jewellery, announced it would henceforth use only lab-grown diamonds (and nothing but recycled precious metals from 2025) for the sake of sustainability. Industry bodies including the Natural Diamond Council, the World Jewellery Confederation and the Responsible Jewellery Council were quick to respond, issuing a joint statement to say the diamond trade employs tens of millions of people, and that many people in developing nations rely on income, and other benefits, from the mining. The announcement, the group added, could &ldquo have unintended but substantial consequences&rdquo . One industry sceptic notes that since Pandora&rsquo s diamond jewellery accounted for as little as 0.2 per cent of its sales, the campaign was more of a publicity stunt than anything else. Lab-grown diamonds are chemically and physically identical to mined stones. Yet there are real concerns about environmental costs. Last July, toxic waste from Angola&rsquo s biggest diamond mine leaked into waterways, killing at least 12 people down river in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Sierra Leone, residents of Koidu are suing the operators of the Octea diamond mine, claiming in a class action that the operators dumped mine waste and damaged their homes. The 2006 film Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, told a story of warlords funded by diamond mines during Sierra Leone&rsquo s brutal civil war. The film rattled the diamond industry and insiders insist the certification systems in place, such as the Kimberley Process, have all but eliminated the trade in conflict gems. Yet ethical issues haven&rsquo t been eliminated, with reports of Zimbabweans tortured for allegedly trespassing on the nation&rsquo s Marange diamond fields. Much of the jewellery industry, including the luxury brand Tiffany & Co, now refuses to buy diamonds from mines in Zimbabwe or Angola. But the provenance of a substantial proportion of mined gems is difficult to track as it twists through dealers and buyers, and diamond mining giant De Beers is expanding and refining its blockchain tracing system so stones can be followed from mine to retailer. A few celebrities are voting with their ears, wrists, necks and fingers. Meghan Markle has been seen wearing lab-grown diamond earrings, while Bindi Irwin, daughter of the famed television personality Steve Irwin, has a lab-grown diamond engagement ring. Moi Moi has been selling these manufactured jewels for two-and-a-half years now, Sommer says, and demand has surged. In 2018 she went to the Las Vegas launch of Lightbox, the lab-grown diamond range from De Beers &ndash the company that had a near monopoly on the gem&rsquo s trade until the end of the 20th century. It still accounts for one-third of the world&rsquo s supply, with mines in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada. In the post-World War II years, with diamond prices slumping, De Beers focused on engagement rings with the wildly successful 1948 &ldquo A Diamond Is Forever&rdquo campaign, a line which continues to influence buyers today. Ordinary diamonds aren&rsquo t particularly rare, but over the decades the jewels have become entwined in myths of luxury and scarcity &ndash and the idea that true love is signalled with a large rock on a gold band, hauled at great effort from the bowels of the earth and sanctified with gradings and certificates and maybe even the spice of danger. In 2020, seemingly bowing to the inevitable market shift, Lightbox opened a factory in the US that can produce more than 200,000 polished carats each year. De Beers now sells these Lightbox diamonds for as little as $US800 ($1175) per carat, regardless of the size of the stone. The basic price increases in a linear manner: $US800 for one carat, $US1600 for two carats, and so on. This is markedly different from mined diamonds, which have prices that grow exponentially as stones get bigger, and rarer. At the De Beers Lightbox launch in the US, Sommer was surprised to see the gems being promoted as lower-tier jewels: stones for younger women or lesser celebrations. The Lightbox website has encouraged consumers to consider &ldquo Gifts for Your Grad&rdquo and doesn&rsquo t even mention engagement rings. De Beers says such stones are for a different mood. &ldquo Our research demonstrates that most consumers see lab-grown diamonds as being ideally suited to fashion jewellery for lighter occasions,&rdquo a press officer tells Good Weekend, adding that &ldquo people overwhelmingly prefer natural diamonds for celebrating the most meaningful moments in their lives&rdquo . Sommer says she was astonished by the Lightbox promotion of lab-grown diamonds for &ldquo Sweet 16&rdquo gifts and the like, adding the audience of jewellers at the launch was annoyed by the assertion. &ldquo They [Lightbox marketers] were saying lab-grown diamonds are prosecco and mined diamonds are French champagne. It just seemed so outdated. It seemed offensive. I think they misread the fact that consumers are educated enough these days to be able to make their own decisions.&rdquo Champagne or not, many buyers simply want big stones. Buyers who could never afford a large mined stone that might retail for tens of thousands of dollars can splash out on a lab-grown diamond. &ldquo Millennials and Gen Z today, they want size,&rdquo Sommer says. &ldquo They want something that looks really good on their social media pages. I&rsquo m sorry to say, a half-carat stone isn&rsquo t going to cut it any more.&rdquo Angela Han, publisher of Jeweller magazine, based in Melbourne, says trade feedback and market data show there&rsquo s growing interest in manufactured diamonds in Australia, though most still buy the mined variety. &ldquo Every consumer wants to compare the two up close, so queries are abundant &ndash indeed, it&rsquo s a novelty to see them side by side &ndash so these days most retailers have access to sample synthetic stones that they can show customers,&rdquo she says. Jewellery retailers might be reluctant to hold much lab-grown stock because it loses value so rapidly. &ldquo After all, you don&rsquo t buy and hold stock that you know will be worth less tomorrow than you paid for it today.&rdquo A report by US management consultants Bain, A Brilliant Recovery Shapes Up: The Global Diamond Industry 2021&ndash 22, said lab-grown diamonds are continuing to &ldquo diverge into a separate, more affordable jewellery category&rdquo and steadily fall in price as a result of increasing expertise and refined manufacturing methods. Han says the retail price of a one-carat G colour (near colourless), VS-clarity (very slightly flawed), lab-created diamond fell to 65 per cent of an equivalent mined diamond in 2017, to half in 2018 and to 35 per cent in 2020. &ldquo It continues to decline with increased production and demand today.&rdquo &ldquo Millennials and Gen Z today, they want size. They want something that looks really good on their social media pages.&rdquo Meanwhile, even the words used to describe the new stones are in dispute. In 2018, nine industry organisations nutted out guidelines for terminology, after some debate about whether a lab-grown diamond could even be called a diamond at all. Finally, it was decided that a diamond was a &ldquo mineral created by nature&rdquo , while a &ldquo synthetic diamond&rdquo or &ldquo laboratory-grown diamond&rdquo was an &ldquo artificial product&rdquo with the same physical characteristics as a diamond. Over time, &ldquo lab grown&rdquo and &ldquo lab created&rdquo have become widely used. Bain uses &ldquo lab-grown&rdquo in its industry report. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), which provides internationally recognised diamond grading reports, uses &ldquo laboratory created&rdquo , as has the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). De Beers markets &ldquo lab-grown&rdquo gems. In 2019, the FTC warned lab-grown diamond suppliers about &ldquo deceptive advertising&rdquo , noting it was unlikely that words such as &ldquo eco-friendly&rdquo and &ldquo sustainable&rdquo could be substantiated. &ldquo It is unfair or deceptive to use the word &lsquo real&rsquo , &lsquo genuine&rsquo , &lsquo natural&rsquo , &lsquo precious&rsquo , &lsquo semi-precious&rsquo or similar terms to describe any industry product that is manufactured or produced artificially,&rdquo the FTC said. One &ldquo lab-grown&rdquo producer shot back with a request that traditional diamonds should be described as &ldquo industrially mined&rdquo . The FTC declined the request, noting there was no evidence to determine how consumers might interpret the term. One upmarket Sydney jeweller, who describes the environmental claims of lab-grown diamond manufacturers as &ldquo unsubstantiated BS&rdquo , is affronted when I speak to him because I use the terms &ldquo lab-grown&rdquo and &ldquo mined&rdquo to differentiate the stones, preferring &ldquo factory-grown&rdquo and &ldquo natural&rdquo . He&rsquo s irritated, too, that I fail to specify that diamonds from the earth are billions of years old and probably the oldest thing most people ever touch. He&rsquo s so annoyed, in fact, that he finally writes to me to say he&rsquo s &ldquo withdrawn permission&rdquo for me to write about him, his business or his clients. Garry Holloway has no such hyper-sensitive concerns. Widely regarded as a diamond expert in an industry crowded with experts, he owns two Holloway Diamonds shops in Melbourne &ndash in Canterbury and Brighton &ndash and has invented diamond cut grading tools. He primarily sources diamonds from a cutting and polishing company in India, which he says is highly reputable. He prefers not to make its identity public, although he gives me the name, noting he&rsquo s travelled with the CEO by train from the factory, which has a community hospital, and that the management&rsquo s family dines with the staff in the cafeteria. He has $US100,000 with the firm on credit to avoid the need to wait for bank transfers if he needs a diamond urgently, adding that &ldquo their ethics and value are beyond reproach&rdquo . On its website, this company attests that every stone in its inventory comes from mines or trusted sources free from conflict. On another front, Holloway has decided not to stock any lab-grown diamonds. His business is bespoke and upmarket, he says, and not a natural fit for gems that are falling in price. The words &ldquo only natural&rdquo have been added to the Holloway Diamonds&rsquo logo. Yet he bears no ill-will toward the newcomer gems: in fact, he bought a little collection of man-made pink diamonds from one of the first manufacturers of the stones at a gem fair in Tucson, Arizona, many years ago, and eventually had them made into a ring for his wife. He worries, however, that if both types of diamonds were stocked in his shops, it could lead to confusion: a customer could be sold a lab-grown in lieu of a mined diamond, and &ldquo 46 years of reputation would go out the window in one fell swoop&rdquo . Meanwhile, he says, cutting lab-grown diamonds has largely been automated, with only the final polishing still done by hand. Cutting rough stones in India can cost less than $US100 a carat because &ndash unlike with mined gems &ndash there&rsquo s no need to work out the best way to avoid the natural imperfections and maximise the return. &ldquo Lab-grown diamonds are going to take over the world there will be less and less money for new mines, so natural diamonds will get rarer.&rdquo Holloway has also done his sums. He says larger, lab-grown diamonds cost less per carat to cut and polish than smaller ones, reducing their relative cost, and he believes that trusted manufacturers like De Beers will eventually eliminate the need for third-party grading of lab-grown stones &ndash dropping the price even further. He sees the diamond jewellery market splitting in two. Younger and environmentally minded consumers will increasingly want lab-grown gems, which will eventually become an upmarket version of the cubic zirconia-type stone widely used in costume jewellery. The resulting upheaval will have profound consequences, he predicts. It will eat into the demand for mined diamonds, eroding the traditional industry at its roots: the mines. &ldquo Lab-grown diamonds are going to take over the world there will be less and less money for new mines, so natural diamonds will get rarer.&rdquo Holloway Diamonds recently sold a solitaire diamond engagement ring to Stephen Dudley, a banker who lives in Melbourne&rsquo s inner suburb of Hawthorn. Dudley, 40, knew he wanted a simple and classic design, but he didn&rsquo t know that lab-grown diamonds existed &ndash not that he would have chosen one, anyway. &ldquo It was my second marriage,&rdquo he says. &ldquo The first time, I spent a bit more time investigating. This time I just knew I wanted a quality diamond, obviously.&rdquo He wasn&rsquo t particularly concerned with provenance &ndash which mine the diamond came from &ndash because he trusted the jeweller to sell him a reputable stone and to steer clear of blood diamonds. He and Nina Rowlands, a 38-year-old interior designer, met on the online dating site Bumble in 2019. She, too, had been married before. It hadn&rsquo t been an easy marriage or parting, and she was on the defensive. &ldquo I was walls up,&rdquo she says, &ldquo but he was there and consistent. It was like a slow burn. He was very patient with me. He knew quite early on that I was his person.&rdquo Within months, Dudley decided to ask Rowlands to marry him. As a traditionalist, he wanted to propose with the ring, rather than leaving the purchase until afterwards. He chose one with the help of an assistant, who remembered Rowlands trying on jewellery and remembered which rings she liked. Dudley would prefer not to disclose its price. &ldquo It&rsquo s beautiful: simple and classic and timeless,&rdquo he says. &ldquo Nina has small fingers: it looks beautiful on her.&rdquo He picked the ring up from Holloway Diamonds&rsquo Canterbury store one Friday in February last year, half an hour before he was due to meet Rowlands at the wine bar where they first met in person. He was understandably nervous, so the sales assistant gave him a glass of champagne to help him calm down, and he placed the ring, inside a jewellery box, in his jacket pocket. He was concerned that the bulge would be noticeable, so he slung it casually over a chair at the same table where he and Rowlands had sat and chatted. The rest, as they say, is history. &ldquo I was completely shocked, I wasn&rsquo t expecting it,&rdquo Rowlands says. While she and Dudley had spoken about marriage in general terms, they weren&rsquo t living together when he proposed. They married in February this year in a small ceremony in Eltham in Melbourne, followed by a lunch reception at a winery. The ring shines from Rowlands&rsquo finger in the wedding photos of a joyous couple on the threshold of a life together. &ldquo My first ring with my first husband was very over the top,&rdquo she says. &ldquo It had a big central diamond surrounded by rings of diamonds, and it didn&rsquo t ever really feel like me.&rdquo She sold that one years ago, not wanting it in the house. She loves this new ring: a classic plain gold band with a 1.5-carat round brilliant-cut white solitaire diamond in a simple four-prong setting. &ldquo It&rsquo s the best colour, and cut and quality,&rdquo she says. &ldquo Less is more. I always said quality over quantity.&rdquo She&rsquo d never even heard of lab-grown diamonds, and even if she had, she says, she wouldn&rsquo t have wanted a ring set with one. &ldquo No way. I want the real thing.&rdquo Dudley later forwarded her diamond&rsquo s internationally recognised GIA certificate, which she appreciated. &ldquo I knew exactly what it was, &rdquo she says, &ldquo which is important to me.&rdquo |
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Everyday
Elite |
15-Jul-2022 02:39
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On 12th July SSH Wu Yongqiang sold 900k at 0.199. May be to finance his increase share in the JV. | ||
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Everyday
Elite |
15-Jul-2022 02:28
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https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/Membership%20with%20Shanghai%20Diamond%20Exchange.ashx?App=Announcement& FileID=723734 MEMBERSHIP WITH SHANGHAI DIAMOND EXCHANGE The Board of Directors (the &ldquo Board&rdquo ) of Metech International Limited (the &ldquo Company&rdquo , and together with its subsidiaries, the &ldquo Group&rdquo ) wishes to announce that the Company&rsquo s wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhongxin Minghua (Shanghai) International Trade Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Nolash (Shanghai) Pte Ltd.) (&ldquo ZXMH&rdquo ), is now a registered member of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (the &ldquo SDE&rdquo ) with effect from 13 July 2022. The membership code （ 企 业 编 号 ） of ZXMH is 1003 and such information can be found at https://www.cnsde.com/#/vipArea/vipNameList. The SDE was established on 27 October 2000 in People' s Republic of China and currently a member of the World Federation of Diamond Exchanges (WFDB). The SDE is the only diamond import and export trading platform in China. By Order of the Board of Directors of Metech International Limited Samantha Hua Lei Executive Director and CEO 14 July 2022 |
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