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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was an upbeat 96-71-143 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose four points to 957. Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index was unchanged this week -- literally. Mr. Zimnisky, a New York-based independent diamond analyst and the go-to guru on diamond marketing matters, did not update his index this week, so it sits at 122.8 points. This is its lowest point since the Great Recession, although miners trying to sell their production during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic might beg to differ. (Indeed, many of them were begging, looking to avoid bankruptcy.)

One might worry that even Mr. Zimnisky has given up the diamond ghost, but fret not shareholders of Canada's dwindling cadre of gem miners and explorers -- he is still on the promotional hustings, offering hope that better days lie ahead. Yes, although he is predicting that lab-grown gem-quality diamonds will exceed the carat count of mined diamonds starting in 2028, like most other analysts and miners, he believes that the price disconnect is such that consumers looking for an important purchase will prefer mined diamonds.

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