CHAMWE KAIRA
Anglo American plc this week announced the value of rough diamond sales (global sightholder sales and auctions) for De Beers’ fifth sales cycle of 2024, amounted to US$315 million.
Al Cook, CEO of De Beers, said: “The northern summer is generally a quieter period for rough diamond sales, and this was reflected in our cycle five sales. The recent annual JCK jewellery show in Las Vegas confirmed a resurgence in retailers’ interest in natural diamonds in the United States but ongoing economic growth challenges in China mean we continue to expect a protracted U-shaped recovery in demand.”
Cook said the provisional rough diamond sales figure quoted for Cycle 5 represents the expected sales value for the period and remains subject to adjustment based on final completed sales.
In the 2023 annual report, the company reported that due to the downturn in industry conditions from 2022 to 2023, total revenue decreased to US$4,3 billion (2022: US$6,6 billion), with rough diamond sales decreasing to US$3,6 billion (2022: US$6 billion). Total rough diamond sales volumes decreased by 19% to 24,7 million carats (2022: 30,4 million carats).
In Namibia, De Beers operates via a 50:50 joint operations with the Namibian government, recovering both land-based diamonds (Namdeb) and offshore diamonds (Debmarine Namibia). Namibia has the richest known marine diamond deposits in the world, with diamond resources estimated at approximately 82 million carats in the seabed.
Marine diamond deposits represent around 78% of the partnership’s total diamond production and 94% of its diamond resources.
Namibia production increased by 9% to 2,3 million carats (2022: 2,1 million carats), primarily driven by a full year of production from the Benguela Gem vessel (commissioned in March 2022) and the ongoing ramp-up and expansion of the mining area at the land operations.
South Africa production decreased by 64% to two million carats (2022: 5,5 million carats), due to the planned completion of the Venetia open pit in December 2022. Venetia continues to process lower grade surface stockpiles, while the new underground project commenced operations in June, and will ramp up over the next few years as development continues.
In Botswana, production was broadly stable, with a 2% increase to 24,7 million carats (2022: 24.1 million carats), driven by the planned treatment of higher grade ore at Orapa.
Production in Canada was stable at 2,8 million carats (2022: 2,8 million carats), with higher throughput offset by planned treatment of lower grade ore.
