By Lisa Barrington
DUBAI – Pure diamond provide has peaked and can stay secure for the subsequent few a long time, the CEO of mining big De Beers informed Reuters on Monday, including that the trade ought to see respectable medium- to long-term progress.
De Beers Group, Anglo American’s diamond enterprise, is among the world’s main diamond miners alongside Russia’s Alrosa.
“I don’t see a purpose to suppose there won't be respectable progress medium- to long-term within the diamond trade … I really feel extra constructive concerning the future than I've performed for a very long time,” Bruce Cleaver stated on the sidelines of a diamond trade convention in Duabi.
“Provide will stay secure. It received’t fall off a cliff. We see 20, 30, 40 years of secure provide. That’s why I really feel fairly constructive,” he stated, including that provide most likely peaked in 2018-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the worldwide diamond provide chain, with some mines shuttered, tough diamond commerce plummeting and polishers in India leaving their jobs.
Within the second quarter of 2020, De Beers offered round 3% of the tough diamonds they'd usually, Cleaver informed the convention, partly as a result of issues about miners working intently collectively restricted manufacturing and partly as a result of patrons anticipated decrease shopper demand as economies slowed.
When demand rallied from the top of 2020, elevated polished costs led to elevated tough costs, Cleaver informed Reuters.
De Beers gross sales had been $4.82 billion in 2021, up from $2.79 billion in 2020, firm knowledge exhibits.
In December, De Beers stated it had utilized to conduct exploration actions in north-eastern Angola, following reforms of the nation’s diamond trade.
“We stay extraordinarily centered on exploration,” Cleaver stated, including the corporate is exploring in Botswana, Canada and South Africa.
Final yr, it additionally commissioned a survey of the ocean flooring off Greenland’s coast in a primary step to find out whether or not it may maintain deposits of highly-prized marine diamonds. De Beers already produces diamonds from Namibia’s sea mattress.
“It's far too early to inform whether or not that's or isn’t going to work,” Cleaver stated of the Greenland analysis.
De Beers’ future may even see funding in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices, Cleaver stated, with out giving figures. This contains diamond traceability utilizing blockchain expertise, working in the direction of a purpose of being carbon impartial by 2030, and higher mining practices.
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