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De Beers 3Q Diamond Production -31%
Oct 25, 2012 3:32 AM
By Avi Krawitz
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RAPAPORT... De Beers production fell 31 percent year on year to 6.375 million carats in the third quarter of 2012, according to parent company Anglo American. The decline resulted from difficult market conditions and a slope failure at its flagship Jwaneng mine during June that temporarily prevented access to the mine’s main ore body.
Anglo American noted that market conditions reflected a combination of a softening in the polished diamond market and a credit constrained rough diamond market.
De Beers continues to focus its operations on maintenance, waste stripping and safety improvements, which has been its strategy since the fourth quarter of 2011 and will help ensure that its mines are well positioned to respond to an increase in demand once market conditions improve.
As a result, De Beers production fell 20 percent to 19.824 million carats during the first nine months of 2012.
As production has declined, management said it will be unable to meet sightholder short-term demand as expressed by their initial applications for goods for the year. De Beers rough sales to sightholders have decreased by 17 percent to $4.74 billion in the first 10 months of 2012, according to Rapaport estimates.
The next De Beers sight is scheduled to take place on November 5. Anglo American owns 85 percent of De Beers with Botswana's government holding the remaining 15 percent.
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Tags:
Avi Krawitz, De Beers
Anglo American
Diamonds
Jwaneng
Botswana
Rapaport
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