The establishment of the Canadia Diamond Bourse earlier this year has reinforced Canada’s stature as a major player in the global diamond business.
The Canadian Diamond Bourse, a wholesale, rough and polished diamond exchange that provides a safe and secure meeting place for buyers and sellers of diamonds, was launched in March and is due to open its doors later this year.
The bourse, located in Toronto, "sends a signal to the world that Canada is an important player in the diamond industry," said Bhushan Vora, chair of the Canadian Diamond Bourse board of directors. "It really puts us on the map because any country that has diamond mining has a diamond bourse and Canada was lacking one even though we’ve been mining diamonds for 10 years."
In 2008, Canada produced $2.4 billion worth of diamonds and ranked as the world’s third largest producer of diamonds by value. The Toronto exchange will see trading in diamonds from all over the world, including diamonds from De Beers’ Victor Mine in Ontario’s James Bay Lowlands.
Diamonds can be bought and sold through direct contacts, but a bourse provides a central marketplace for buyers and sellers.
"Everyone who is a member of the bourse is pre-screened, so even if they come from overseas, they have a security clearance and credit checks have been done," said Vora. "That makes it a very secure trading environment for all parties. It saves a lot of time and eliminates a lot of risk, especially in a recessionary business environment."
The bourse will have a code of conduct to which members are required to adhere and an arbitration service for the settlement of disputes.
Members will include wholesalers, retailers, jewellery manufacturers, allied service companies, public sector organizations and international diamond trading houses.
The Canadian bourse will be eligible to join the Antwerp-based World Federation of Diamond Bourses after one year of operation. Membership in the world
ederation entitles diamond merchants to trade at any of the 28 bourses around the world.
"If an individual in Canada is not in good standing, he’s not going to be in good standing anywhere in the world, so that gives you a secure feeling that if you’re trading with someone who is a member of a bourse, you have very little to worry about," said Vora.
The bourse itself is an office environment with desks, scales and other equipment required to transact business. Vora also hopes to equip the bourse with high-end diamond grading instrumentation and polariscopes so traders can test diamonds without having to go elsewhere.
The bourse will have a website with a bulletin board that will allow members to communicate with each other and list the diamonds they have for sale or wish to purchase.
The presence of a bourse in Canada will allow retailers, wholesalers and jewellery manufacturers in North America to buy and sell diamonds without having to travel overseas. The Toronto bourse will also appeal to overseas merchants looking to do business in Canada.
"People love to come to Canada, but sometimes you need a reason," said Vora. "If there’s no bourse, you say ‘I can’t go to Canada because I don’t know anybody,’ but if you have a bourse, you have a home to come to. You meet people and you immediately have access to the industry."
The bourse is an industry-led and member-supported initiative conceived by key members of the Canadian diamond industry with support from the government of the Northwest Territories and Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines.
