Argyle’s final Pink Diamond Tender marks end of an era
In the last 20 years, this precious commodity has outperformed all traditional investments. With Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine now closed and its final tender now in progress, demand for pink diamonds is set to skyrocket.
When you consider the significance of Argyle’s last ever Pink Diamonds Tender, its easy to understand the excitement and anticipation among the world’s diamond industry.
Seventy stones, unearthed in the final year of the Western Australian mine’s 40-year history, are currently being pored over – both virtually and in person – by a select few of potential buyers in Antwerp, the home of Rio Tinto’s diamond business.
Among the selection is the rare 3.47 carat Argyle Eclipse, and two red diamonds, the likes of which just 35 have featured in the mine’s annual tender.
To underscore the rarity of these stones, and the extremely unlikely set of circumstances which coalesced to produce them more than a billion years ago, it’s important to note that the entirety of pink and red diamonds unearthed over the mine’s history is incredibly small, accounting for less than 0.1 per cent of the mine’s diamond production.
“We’re talking about a Champagne flute full really, over the course of forty years,” Rio Tinto Diamonds sales director Michelle Sherring said.
“I think the fundamentals of that rarity just speaks volumes, they’re such flukes of nature that like rare art, they come few and far between.
“And the collection this year is quite remarkable for its size. Of those 70 stones more than 60 per cent of them are actually over 1 carat, which is quite significant for us to have a line-up of size.”
The closure of the Argyle Diamond Mine, which produced 90 per cent of the world’s pink diamonds, has also added allure for investors. According to data collated by the Australian Diamond Portfolio, Argyle precious pink gems have appreciated about 500 per cent in price since 2000 and offer an average annual return of about 10-15 per cent.
“I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how astronomically the price would have gone, and I don’t think it will stop here,” Ms Sherring said. “None of us have a crystal ball but when we’re talking about these stones potentially becoming the diamond artefacts of the future, with no other, at this point in time, source of this type of stone, it will no doubt continue to increase over the years.”
It’s also worth noting Argyle’s Once In a Blue Moon Tender, an offering of 40 blue and violet diamonds, which is running in tandem with Journey Beyond, its pink diamond tender.
“Most other blues from around the world are due to the presence of boron, but the Argyle mine again, just surprised us as the only hydrogen source of blue and violet diamonds, and the volume of them, the last tender we had, was in 2018, so it’s taken us three years to collect enough to present,” Ms Sherring explained.
While the tender has been purchased in its entirety just three times, there’s a chance it may happen again this year, such is the interest among retailers and fancy colour specialists, when the bids are revealed on October 4.
“It’s certainly not out of the question and given it’s our last year there’s a real potential that it can happen again,” Ms Sherring said.
Master Jeweller John Calleija has worked with Argyle for more than 30 years and is among the select few invited to take part in this year’s tender, which he says will be both historical and very competitive.
“We could be one of the last generations to have the privilege of mining pink diamonds, so this tender will be a historic event,” he said, adding: “The whole world will be watching and wanting because this is the absolute final collection. Naturally, it will be an extremely competitive environment and anyone who is lucky enough to have tender diamonds after, will be very fortunate.”
Ms Sherring said while this year’s tender will be the last, the Argyle pink brand will continue.
“We won’t have any new production of these calibre stones but Rio Tinto’s decision to retain the Argyle Pink Diamond brand and continue to support the legacy of these stones speaks to the significance of them and the significance of the brand to Rio Tinto.”