Tendering from Ellendale

Antwerp, Belgium–Hennig Tenders is hosting two tenders this month that include rough diamonds of yellow color from both South Africa and Australia.

First, Hennig will tender a selection of single rough stones from Batla Minerals SA’s Superkolong diamond tailings plant in Kimberley, South Africa.

The viewings for the Superkolong stones will begin Tuesday (May 10) in New York. The sale will include a 112.22-carat rough diamond of yellow color, as well as other yellow diamonds ranging in size from 3 to 50 carats.

The Superkolong rough will be available for viewing in New York until Thursday (May 12), before moving on to Ramat Gan, Israel (May 15 to 19) and Antwerp, Belgium (May 23 to 26.)

Originally mined by De Beers, Kimberley is an area of the world known for producing yellow diamonds.

Hennig also will be hosting a tender of more than 17,000 carats of rough diamonds sourced from the now-closed Ellendale diamond mine in northwest Australia.

Ellendale was operated by Kimberley Diamonds Ltd. and was one of the world’s leading sources of yellow diamonds, even once signing a now-defunct deal to supply Tiffany & Co. with its stones.

The mine shut down abruptly last year, leaving more than a hundred people out of work and owed back pay and a line of creditors who were owed millions.

Kimberley Diamonds placed the subsidiary company that operated the mine into voluntary administration, and Sydney-based insolvency firm Jirsch Sutherland was brought in to liquidate the mine.

Since then, the future fate of the site, which once produced almost half of the world’s yellow diamonds, has remained tied up in court. And, according to news reports, the former head of Kimberley Diamonds, Russian mining magnate Alex Alexander, was arrested in September 2015 for allegedly misleading the stock market about the price Tiffany would pay for his mine’s yellow diamonds.