Chamwe Kaira
Namibia has so far this year produced 1.7 million carats of rough diamonds compared to 1.5 million carats during the same period last year.
The De Beers Group production report for the third Quarter of 2023 showed that the country showed production year to date at 1,761 000 compared to 1,547 000 during the same period last year, an increase of 14 percent.
Debmarine Namibia has produced 1,424 000 carats compared to 1,286 000 carats during the same period last year, an increase of 11 percent. On the other hand, Namdeb (land operations) has produced 337 000 carats compared to 261 000 carats during the same period last year.
However, on a quarterly production was flat with production at 530 000 carats compared to compared to 612 000 in the second quarter and 619 000 in the first quarter. Of the third quarter production, Debmarine Namibia produced 423 000 carats while Namdeb (land operations) produced 107 000 carats.
De Beers’rough diamond production decreased by 23 percent to 7.4 million carats, primarily due to the planned reduction in South Africa as Venetia transitions to underground operations and begins the ramp-up of production, as well as planned maintenance in Botswana.
In Botswana, production decreased by 12 percent to 5.8 million carats, driven by lower throughput at Orapa due to planned maintenance.
In South Africa, production decreased by 78 percent to 0.4 million carats, due to the planned end of Venetia’s open pit operations in December 2022. Venetia will continue to process lower grade surface stockpiles as the underground operations ramp-up production over the next few years.
Production in Canada decreased by 9 percent to 0.7 million carats, due to planned treatment of lower grade ore.
De Beers said as a result of the uncertain macro-economic environment and high levels of diamond inventory in the midstream, sightholders took a cautious approach to their purchasing during the third quarter. Rough diamond sales totalled 7.4 million carats.
