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The change, proposed by the former Labour government, to save the Royal Mint between £7 million and £8 million a year by abandoning the use of copper & instead using nickel has caused quite a stir. It has been revealed that 5p & 10p coins are going to start being made from steel with a nickel coating which is known to cause a skin allergy problems, hence the reason it not being used in jewellery any more. The ‘silver’ 5p and 10p coins have always been made from a metal known as cupronickel, an alloy made of 75 per cent copper, 25 per cent nickel. Another issue raised with the change in metal coating used for 5p & 10p coins is that the coins are going to be thicker, meaning they may not work in hundreds of thousands of machines around the country causing far too many problems. It’s been said that the change will cost the vending industry £42 million & the coin industry nearly as much as £100 million.

Nickel is Legally Banned from Jewellery & Should Not be Used in Coinage

Why is nickel regulated?

Nickel is known to be one of the most common causes of skin allergies with it affecting 10% of the UK adult population. Nickel sensitive patients develop dermatitis which is caused by nickel permeating through the skin of their hands causing a long-term disability. Avoiding nickel is almost impossible as it is found in hundreds of thousands of substances. The most common sensitisation caused by nickel is through body piercings & is perpetuated by prolonged contact with nickel.

The change in metal for the use of 5p & 10p coins is due to take place from January 1st of next year.

Firms from Armenia want to step up the amount of diamonds they import from Russia.

Diamond-cutting companies in Armenia are looking to increase the amount of the precious stones they import from Russia, it has emerged.

According to Rapaport, companies from the country are keen to bring in diamonds worth $100 million (£63 million) annually.

The firms would enter into an agreement with Russia's state-owned diamond mining company Alrosa and are keen to sign contracts with as many businesses as possible that are on Alrosa's client list.

This follows a meeting of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation that took place in Yekaterinburg in Russia recently, at which a new protocol regarding diamond trading between the two nations was adopted.

Under the terms of the agreement, Alrosa – which accounts for 97 per cent of Russia's overall diamond output and was responsible for 25 per cent of global diamond production in 2002 – will sell precious stones worth between $20 million and $30 million to Armenian companies during 2011.

New figures have indicated diamond production and exports in Australia rose in the second quarter of 2010.

Diamond production in Australia climbed by over 2.5 million carats during the second quarter of 2010, official figures have revealed.

Statistics from the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics show output of the precious stones was up by 2.5669 million carats in the three months to June 30th.

This was a substantial increase when compared to the rise of 453,000 carats seen during the same period in 2009.

Exports of both sorted and unsorted diamonds were up to $100 million (£64.9 million) in the quarter – a jump of 32 per cent – and for the full 12 months to the end of June, diamond production rose 27 per cent to 11.135 million carats.

However, exports over the year were down 49 per cent, to $345 million.

The Australian figures follow those published by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre for Belgium.

According to Diamond World, the country's exports of polished diamonds were up 25.5 per cent year-on-year in August.