PANNA MINES – REOPENING – INDIA
India’s Supreme Court has granted permission to restart mining at the country’s Panna diamond mines, according to local media reports.
The mines were closed two years ago, pending the court ruling, due to the environmental impact of the project to the area, RAPAPORT reported.
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan granted the National Mineral Development Corporation permission to commence diamond production at Panna under the supervision of a five-member environmental monitoring committee, the Business Standard reported.
Part of the mine’s profits will go to regenerate the environment.
The corporation’s Panna production fell from 78,209 carats in 2004-05 to 48,874 carats in 2005-06 due to court directives and government concerns about the environmental impact of the mine, the Business Standard said.

ROUGH DIAMOND – EXPORTS – BOTSWANA
First half of the year rough exports out of Botswana rose 16 percent to BWP11.5 billion ($1.8 billion.) Bank of Botswana figures show  exports of rough diamonds fell from BWP6.4 billion ($976 million) in first quarter to BWP5.107 billion ($779 million) in second quarter, RAPAPORT reported.
The quarter-to-quarter decline was due to Diamond Trading Company Botswana direct rough sales to sightholders. With rough goods being sold and then cut/polished by local companies, the diamonds were not counted in exports, the Bank of Botswana's report stated.

JEWELRY – PRICE INDEX – USA
The consumer price index for jewelry during July rose 9.2 percent to 156.6 points, according to statistics provided by BLS (the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) This rate, based upon 100 points from 1986,  was the highest level since March 1996, RAPAPORT reported.
When combining both the watches and jewelry categories, the year-to-year difference was an increase of 8.1 percent in the United States.
July's jewelry price index rose 3 points from June, and it is up 11 points since January.
During the January to July 2007 cycle, the index averaged about 141 points, but this year it has risen to an average of 152. January registered 145.6 points, or the lowest level so far this year.

Rough&Polished