New Sightholder List Arrives
The DTC finally announced its official list of DTC Sightholders for the 2008-2011 contract period. The complete Sightholder Directory is now available online. Despite the delay in announcing the list there are no big surprises. Modern Jeweler did miss two international sightholders in our March 2008 Global Diamond Directory: Diamanthandel A. Spira, the oldest sightholder, and Vijaydimon, who we listed as a Rio Tinto Select Diamantaire but who is also a DTC sightholder. As you might expect, we also included two companies in error: A.S. Exports (an expected new sightholder) and Bornstein. Apologies to the companies involved and to our readers for the incorrect information, which was our mistake entirely.
But what is most interesting about the new online DTC sightholder directory is the detailed information it provides about Sightholders in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia, which will no doubt help jewelers and manufacturers who wish to support beneficiation in those countries. This is more information than has ever been available before about these companies and their operations, although most of them are part of bigger international Sightholder groups. And it is all accessible to consumers too: an important milestone in the progress the industry is making to bring diamond cutting and downstream employment to diamond producing countries in Africa.