Opportunities in Diamond Investing: Jason Stevens

Jason Stevens, an investment executive at Sprott Global Resource Investments, recently spoke with Henry Bonner about why he believes diamonds may present a good opportunity for some investors.

He does caution that the gems are a five- to 10-year play.

Stevens said:

Every scenario I’ve studied has demand outpacing supply for the foreseeable future.

Lack of new discoveries, diamond engagement rings becoming more common in developing countries, and strong household incomes among the American affluent all strengthen the case for diamond investments.

The industry expects production to start declining between 2018 and 2020. Mining companies are scrambling to find more diamond deposits. Since 2000, they have spent $7 billion looking for diamonds, but the payoff has been meager. Rio Tinto made the only sizeable discovery in that timeframe, finding nearly 35 million carats at the Bunder Project in central India. The Bunder Mine may produce an average of 2 million carats per year starting in 2017, or about 1.5% of annual global production — far less than the amount they expect to come off the market between now and 2026.

The annual exploration budget of the diamond industry has essentially been cut in half since’07 and ’08. According to data compiled by SNL Metals & Mining Research, the global diamond exploration fell from $985 million in 2007 to $489 million in 2013. The percentage of global exploration dollars allocated to diamonds also fell from 9% of total exploration budgets in 2007 to only 3.4% in 2013.

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