Rio Tinto is facing a significant shortage of fancy color diamonds from the former Argyle mine. To prepare for its upcoming 2024 Beyond Rare Tender, the company has begun buying back gems from customers. According to Michelle Sherring, Rio Tinto’s diamond sales manager, their inventory of unsold pink and red diamonds now resembles “a mere teaspoon.”
This year, Rio Tinto is incorporating the secondary market into its sales strategy, leveraging strong relationships with long-term customers. Next month, a total of 76 diamonds, primarily from Argyle, will be auctioned, weighing a combined 39.44 carats. Among these is the “Old Masters” collection, featuring seven pink, red, and violet diamonds ranging from 0.60 to 2.63 carats, some dating back to 1987.
In May, the Argyle Phoenix, a 1.56-carat fancy red diamond, sold for $4.2 million at Phillips Geneva, setting records for both the highest auction price and the highest price-per-carat for a fancy red diamond. Notably, Argyle produced around 95 percent of the world’s pink and red diamonds before closing in November 2020.
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