DiamondBuzz
Rio Tinto’s Final Beyond Rare Tender Marks the End of a Diamond Era
Rio Tinto’s third and final Beyond Rare™ Tender, titled The Art Series: Into the Light, has concluded with strong global demand, securing the company’s place in the history of rare diamonds. The tender comes 40 years after the commissioning of the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia and 22 years after the start of operations at the Diavik mine in Canada.
The 2025 tender featured 52 lots totalling 45.44 carats, including six Masterpieces — carefully curated sets highlighting the pinnacle of production from Argyle and Diavik — alongside 39 single stones and seven matched sets. The Argyle pink, red, and violet diamonds came from the final legacy inventory, making them among the last of their kind.
Singapore-based Argyle Pink Diamonds Icon Partner™ Glajz THG, in collaboration with Scandinavian jeweller Hartmann’s, won the coveted Lot 1 consisting of two Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink pear shapes and a 5.11-carat Flawless D-colour Diavik emerald-cut diamond. “We are delighted to win these extraordinary masterpieces of nature and look forward to honouring the powerful provenance of the Argyle and Diavik mines,” said John Glajz, Managing Director of Glajz THG.
Patrick Coppens, General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Rio Tinto Diamonds, described the tender as a fitting finale: “Presenting this final collection is a wonderful epilogue to Rio Tinto’s inspiring story of mining and marketing diamonds. The world is still captivated by their beauty, exceptional rarity, and pure provenance.”
Since 1985, Rio Tinto has sold approximately 2,500 carats of rare pink, red, and blue polished Argyle diamonds — less than 0.0003% of the mine’s total production — through its annual tenders. With Argyle closed in 2020 and Diavik scheduled to close in 2026, the Beyond Rare™ legacy now enters the annals of diamond history.
In a clear sign of the growing strategic importance of lab-grown diamonds for technological applications, the Spanish government has committed a massive EUR 750 million (approximately $813 million) investment to Diamond Foundry’s new manufacturing plant in Trujillo.
This significant funding injection is specifically earmarked for the production of semiconductor-grade, lab-grown diamonds. It dramatically boosts the project’s war chest, adding to the initial EUR 80 million in funding that the European Union had already pledged last December.
The Trujillo facility is poised to become the largest of its kind in Europe, specializing in high-tech, industrial, and semiconductor-grade diamonds.
- Projected Output: When operations begin—anticipated sometime between 2027 and 2029—the plant is expected to yield over 4 million carats annually, with production slated for substantial increases thereafter.
- Total Project Value: The full cost of the Trujillo project is reported to be a staggering EUR 2.35 billion.
This monumental investment underscores a key trend in the lab-grown diamond sector: a heavy pivot away from the jewelry market and toward high-value industrial and technological applications.
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