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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a so-so 74-99-137 as the TSX Venture Exchange lost nine points to 879. Rough diamond prices lost more ground this week, according to Paul Zimnisky and his global rough diamond price index. Mr. Zimnisky tweaked 0.1 point off last week's fix based on late-to-arrive data, and then new information pulled away another 0.5 point to leave this week's setting at 122.5 points -- a multiyear low last seen during the COVID-19 collapse in the summer of 2020.

And so, rough diamond prices are now 40.9 per cent lower than in early 2022, when a temporary surge in demand, juxtaposed with lagging supply from mines still labouring under COVID restrictions, sent Mr. Zimnisky's index to a high of 207.3 points. That record high topped a 2011 surge sparked for much the same reason -- except that the Great Recession was the trigger.

Worse, arguably, is that Mr. Zimnisky now has rough diamond prices 22.7 per cent lower than in late 2015, when diamond prices oscillated sideways in a narrow band in the midst of a multiyear stretch. Inflation has added about 30 per cent to capital and operating costs at mines and development projects since then, resulting in a 50-per-cent swing in potential profits.

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