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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a ho-hum 84-93-133 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell fractionally to 585. Rough diamond prices edged lower yet again this week according to Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index, continuing a relentless slide that began with spring. The good news is that the slide appears to be flattening. While prices are down nearly 14 per cent over the past six months, they are off just 1.4 per cent over the past month. (The worst of the drop this year occurred between mid-May and early July -- an eight-week stretch in which prices fell about 11 per cent.)

If the flattening persists -- and if the current trend follows the same pattern that came on the heels of the Great Recession -- rough diamond prices may stagnate near the same levels that persisted through most of the 2010s. Indeed, Mr. Zimnisky says current prices are 1.4 per cent lower than they were a decade ago and are 1.5 per cent higher than in midsummer of 2018. Back then, diamond promoters bemoaned the low prices as an anomaly and predicted rises that would handily beat inflation. Unfortunately, inflation has proved to be the hands-down winner.

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