De Beers ups year-on-year production by 22%

25th January 2018

By: Samantha Herbst

Creamer Media Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Buoyed by stronger trading conditions and a contribution from the ramp-up of its Canada-based Gahcho Kué mine in the fourth quarter of 2017, diamond giant De Beers increased its total rough diamond production for the year by 22% to 33.5-million carats, boosted by a 5% increase in production in the fourth quarter to 8.1-million carats.

However, among other factors, production ramp-up at Gahcho Kué, as well as at the group’s Botswana-based Orapa mine, impacted on the full-year consolidated average realised price, which stood at $162/ct – 13% lower than the average realised price in 2016. Also contributing to the lower average price per carat were a recovery from the initial ramp-up of India’s demonetisation programme in late 2016, and strong demand for lower-value goods held in stock from December 31, 2016. According to De Beers, the lower-value mix was partially offset by a higher average rough price index, which was up 3% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the group’s Botswana-based subsidiary, Debswana, increased diamond production for the year to 5.5-million carats. Production at Orapa mine increased by 14% owing to planned increases in plant performance and a ramp-up of Plant 1, which had been under partial care and maintenance in response to trading conditions in late 2015. Orapa’s performance was partially offset by Jwaneng mine’s performance, which saw a 15% decrease in production owing to expected lower grades.

De Beers’ Namibia production – facilitated by Namdeb Holdings – increased 14% to 488 000 ct, owing to higher grades at Namdeb’s land operations, while the group’s South Africa production decreased 17% to 1.1-million carats, largely as a result of planned sequencing of ore sources at Venetia, where the increase in tonnes treated was more than offset by a reduction in grade.
In Canada, production doubled to 993 000 ct, owing to the ramp-up at Gahcho Kué, which reached nameplate capacity in the second quarter.

Consolidated rough diamond sales volumes in the fourth quarter remained at 7.5-million carats – no change from the same comparable period in 2016 – while total sales volumes increased by 2.5% year-on-year to 8.2-million carats, from 8.0-million carats the fourth quarter of 2016.

Consolidated sales volumes for the full-year were 33.1-million carats, up 10% from the previous year’s comparable quarter of 30-million carats, while total sales volumes – which are comparable to production – were 35.1-million carats, up 9.7% from 32-million carats in the previous comparable quarter.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION