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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a bright 113-68-129 as the TSX Venture Exchange jumped 11 points to 615. With word circulating over the past week that De Beers was cutting some prices and withholding some goods from its latest sale, sage investors were girding for more bad news about rough diamond prices. Sure enough, diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky and his global rough diamond price index delivered as feared.

After two weeks of no significant changes, either from late-to-arrive data or from the latest week's prices, the index was flattish for the past several weeks, sitting last week at 147.5 points. Now, it appears, prices have suffered a double whammy. First, Mr. Zimnisky peeled away all the faint hints of hope across the recent weeks of his index, resetting last week at 146.6 points, a drop of about 0.6 per cent. Next, he calculated current prices such that this week's fix dropped another one-half point, so the index is now at 146.1 points -- a new multiyear low.

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