{"id":1160513,"date":"2020-01-17T04:56:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T10:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1011528"},"modified":"2020-01-17T04:56:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T10:56:28","slug":"rio-tinto-readies-to-close-worlds-biggest-diamond-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1160513","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto readies to close world\u2019s biggest diamond mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rio Tinto\u2019s (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO)&nbsp;iconic Argyle&nbsp;mine<br \/>\nin remote Western Australia, the world\u2019s biggest and the main global source of high-quality<br \/>\npink diamonds, will close in the fourth quarter this year, potentially pushing<br \/>\nprices up and spurring exploration.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The planned closure, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riotinto.com\/news\/releases\/Rio-Tinto-Releases-Fourth-Quarter-Result\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">the company said<\/a>, will impact its total diamond output for the year. Rio now expects to produce between 12 and 14 million tonnes of rough diamonds in 2020, down from the 17 million tonnes it churned out last year.<\/p>\n<p>The impact on Rio\u2019s balance sheet, however, are expected to be minimal. Diamonds bring in only about 2% of earnings, while iron ore \u2014 the company\u2019s main commodity\u2060 \u2014 accounts for almost 60%.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Miner expects to see production of rough diamonds drop from 17 million tonnes last year to 12-14 Mt in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Pink diamonds, already rare, are about to get<br \/>\nscarcer&nbsp;as Argyle accounts for 90% of worldwide production of the coloured<br \/>\nprecious rock. The mine has yielded more than 865 million carats of rough<br \/>\ndiamonds since it opened in 1983 and, so far, there hasn\u2019t been major<br \/>\ndiscoveries or projects capable of measure up to Argyle in terms of<br \/>\nproduction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At its peak, the mine produced 40% of world diamond output<br \/>\nby volume. It still accounts for all of Australia&#8217;s diamond production.<\/p>\n<p>Rio Tinto estimates Argyle&#8217;s direct contribution to the East Kimberley in roughly 6% of the region&#8217;s gross regional product.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts and auctioneers alike expect prices for the unique<br \/>\ndiamonds to go up. Pink stones have already been fetching record prices in the<br \/>\npast few months and the closure of their mine source could see that trend<br \/>\nstrengthen.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/argyle-opus-rio-tinto-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Rio Tinto readies to close world\u2019s biggest diamond mine\" class=\"wp-image-1011530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/argyle-opus-rio-tinto-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/argyle-opus-rio-tinto-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/argyle-opus-rio-tinto-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>The Argyle Opus, a 2.01-carat Fancy Intense Pink, round brilliant-cut diamond. (<em>Source: Rio Tinto.<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2018, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/christies-auction-largest-finest-pink-diamond-history\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">18.96-carat Pink Legacy<\/a> sold for&nbsp;$50 million&nbsp;at Christie\u2019s auction house,&nbsp;breaking the world record&nbsp;for price paid per carat for a pink diamond at auction.<\/p>\n<p>At Sotheby\u2019s Hong Kong October sale, one of the star pieces \u2014 described as an \u201cexquisite 10.64-carat vivid purplish pink diamond\u201d \u2014 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/auctions\/2019\/magnificent-jewels-and-jadeite-hk0893.html\" >sold for just under $20 million<\/a>. Rio Tinto\u2019s own data show that the prices for their Argyle pink diamonds have jumped by 500% since 2000. <\/p>\n<p>The mining giant said the decommissioning and dismantling the mine would take five year, after which it would monitor the site for a period to be defined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miner expects to see production of rough diamonds drop from 17 million tonnes last year to 12-14 Mt in 2020, as a result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1160513"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160568,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160513\/revisions\/1160568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1160513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1160513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1160513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}