Editorial: Buh-bye Hollywood, visit me in Yellowknife

Canada’s brief but glamorous affair with one of the world’s great ultra-luxury brands came to a swift end in the new year, with Harry Winston Diamond striking a deal to sell its famed retail diamond jewellery and timepiece division Harry Winston Inc. to Swiss watchmaking powerhouse The Swatch Group.

With Swatch paying out US$750 million in cash and assuming up to US$250 million in debt, Harry Winston Diamond is locking in a handsome profit, almost tripling the amount it paid for the “jeweller to the stars” in stages between 2004 and 2006, back when the jeweller had been crippled by feuding between heirs of its founder.

The globe-spanning division comprises 21 directly operated retail salons, four licensed salons and a wholesale line of watches.

Harry Winston Diamond will grudgingly turn away from the red carpets of Hollywood, change its name to the prosaic “Dominion Diamond,” and steel itself to focus on the hard work of hacking out a larger diamond-mining footprint in the barren lands of Canada’s Arctic.

The cash will come in handy here: Harry Winston’s operating partner at the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, Rio Tinto, is anxious to unload its 60% stake in the mine, and looks to be only holding out for the right price.

Last November Toronto-based Harry Winston Diamond showed it was more than willing to step into the big leagues of diamond miners by acquiring BHP Billiton’s operating interest in the nearby Ekati diamond mine.

Harry Winston Diamond’s latest wheeling and dealing is being backed by some stellar results from Diavik. In the fourth quarter, the mine produced 1.9 million carats from 0.5 million tonnes of ore processed, up 19% from the year-ago quarter, when it produced 1.6 million carats from 0.6 million tonnes.

Grades improved in all the kimberlite pipes being mined, more than offsetting the 17% decline in ore processed, which the company blames on reduced processing-plant throughput resulting from changes in the ore’s geological composition. Of note, open-pit mining of the A-418 pipe wrapped up in September, though processing of that ore will continue into 2013.

For all of 2012, Diavik produced an impressive 7.2 million carats from 2.1 million tonnes of ore, compared to 6.7 million carats from 2.2 million tonnes in 2011. Rio Tinto is finalizing the 2013 mining plan, which will be entirely underground, with a target of 6 million carats of production from 1.8 million tonnes.

• The nine-month stalemate in Mali that left the north half of the country in the hands of well-armed Islamist rebels and the south in the hands of the moderate Malian government exploded in the new year, with French forces newly entering the theatre in hot combat.

As fears grew over the holiday period that the capital Bamako would be overrun by rebel forces, France saved the day through intense airstrikes throughout the north of the country and troop deployments at the front and in the capital Bamako, where some 6,000 French nationals congregate. Neighbouring countries are negotiating to send troops to back up Malian forces, who are also being supported by the U.S., British, Canadian and other militaries.

Mali’s rich gold mines and exploration projects are about as far away from the fighting as you can get: in the southwest and south of the country, right up against the relatively peaceful borders with Senegal, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. Notable mines include Gounkoto, Kalana, Loulo, Morila, Sadiola, Segala, Tabakoto and Yatela — owned in various amounts by Endeavour Mining, AngloGold Ashanti, Iamgold, Randgold Resources, Avnel Gold Mining and the government of Mali.

At press time, France 24 was reporting that Islamic militants had killed three and taken 41 foreigners hostage in a deadly raid on a BP gas plant in southern Algeria in retaliation for French fighter jets using Algerian airspace to attack militants in Mali.

This situation is increasingly messy and volatile, and one that will likely dominate the headlines in 2013. At presstime, French special forces are in house-to-house combat with rebels forces who have occupied the central Malian town of Diabal, and merged into the local population.

According to the International Criminal Court, there have been widespread reports of murder, rape, mutilation and summary executions in Islamist controlled regions in the north.