After its diamond holdings dangled over the heads of prospective purchasers for at least a year, mining giant Rio Tinto has officially decided to withdraw the assets from the market and re-commit to diamond mining, Fox News reports. In a press release, Rio Tinto Diamond & Minerals chief executive Alan Davies announced the decision, which will have major repercussions for the diamond industry.

Rio first thought to divest of its diamond holdings a year ago when it conducted a review of all of its assets with an eye to improving its profit margin. Realizing that its diamond businesses returned significantly less than some of its other industries – like iron ore, for example, which returns profits of 70% - it thought to sell off first its Diavik mine in northern Canada, then its Murowa mine in Zimbabwe and its Argyle mine in Australia, as well.

Over the last year, Rio engaged in talks with various parties, but no deal was ever sealed. Rio had said that it preferred to sell all of the mines as a single unit to a single purchaser, but the diamond companies that expressed interest were seemingly only interested in acquiring one or two of the assets.