Dominion Diamonds seeks to reach out to consumers in Israel

Officials of Dominion Diamonds Marketing Corporation paid a visit to Israel earlier this week to conduct a series of talks with Israeli diamond industry and trade representatives, in particular with Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) president Yair Sahar, with the intent to explore consumer potential for its rough diamond production.

The officials, James R.W. (Jim) Pounds, President of the company and Harsh Dalal, vice president of sales arrived just prior to the August edition of the US & Israel Diamond Week in Israel, to scout for and meet with potential customers.

Dominion Diamonds Marketing Corporation recently acquired BHP's interest in the diamond mining sector.

"We thank Jim Pounds and Harsh Dalal for taking up our invitation to come and visit the Israeli diamond industry and trade and, among others, to get a taste, just prior to the US & Israel Diamond Week in Israel, of the huge marketing event that we are creating here," Sahar said. "Pounds' exploratory visit here is the result of a series of preparatory talks that I have conducted during the past months. Israel's diamond industry needs suppliers such as Dominion to sustain its high level manufacturing capabilities and we think that Israel and Dominion are a good fit," Sahar noted.

"With the takeover of BHP's diamond interests, Dominion now controls the output of two of the world's most prolific diamond mines, Ekati and Diavik, mines that produce high quality diamonds that are of great interest to the Israeli diamond industry and trade. We genuinely hope that Dominion will finds it justified to add more Israeli firms to its customer portfolio," Sahar added.

Jim Pounds said that he and Dalal were in Israel foremost on a fact-finding mission. "I can assure our Israeli colleagues that we will take everything we learn here back with us and carefully weigh our options," Pounds stated. One of the first results of the meetings with Pound and Dalal, is Dominion's intent to plan and hold tenders of large rough in Israel, from 2014 and onward.