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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a so-so 94-83-133 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell fractionally to 963, stabilizing after a quick retreat from last week's multiyear high of 1,037. The better news -- but make no mistake it is not good news -- is that Paul Zimnisky lowered his global rough diamond price index by just 0.3 point this week. Unfortunately, he also recalibrated the last month of his index to reflect tardy data, and that peeled off another 1.6 points. And so, this week's setting is at 122.8, 1.9 points lower than where we thought it was a week ago.

There is no way to sugarcoat this. The index is now lower than five years ago, when COVID-19 lockdowns left miners without an avenue to sell their rough -- short of a few buyers with cash looking to turn a quick profit. (A profit they turned, but it was not so quick, nor was it guaranteed if they held the goods looking for continued appreciation.) And so, while the market did rebound after COVID, sending Mr. Zimnisky's index to 207.3 points in early 2022, it is currently 84.5 points lower, a drop of 40.8 per cent.

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