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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Thursday was a positive 94-89-127 as the TSX Venture Exchange added two points to 601. Slumping rough diamond prices have miners and explorers worried, although most put on a brave face by suggesting that with supply of mined diamonds falling and demand increasing, prices must surely rise. Those optimists got some encouraging news this week -- or did they? -- with word that a major purveyor of synthetic diamonds is leaving the business.

De Beers -- yes, mighty De Beers -- had been producing and selling jewellery featuring man-made diamonds through its Forevermark brand for over eight years. In fact, for a year or two, it expanded its synthetic wares into the bridal sector -- to the horror of other miners. The company soon saw the error of its ways and the Forevermark foray might have left just a brief black mark on the bridal sector, but once the walls of the fortress had been breached, others raced in to take De Beers's place.

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