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De Beers Rough Diamond Production Declines by 26% in Q4 2024 February 24, 2025 (0 comments)
LONDON, United Kingdom--Difficulties at De Beers continue as the mining giant reported that rough diamond production fell by 26% to 5.8 million carats in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Despite the decline, De Beers in its quarterly and annual statement for 2024 said that despite low sales volumes, inventory “has reduced slightly year-on-year through managing purchases and downstream stocks.”
De Beers attributes the decline to “challenging trading conditions persisted through the quarter as cautious retailer purchasing and higher than normal levels of inventory in the midstream suppressed demand for rough diamonds.”
The rough diamond performance by country is as follows:
Botswana, production decreased by 31% to 4.2 million carats, due to planned actions to lower production at Jwaneng.
Production in Namibia increased by 3% to 0.6 million carats, reflecting planned higher-grade mining and better recoveries at Namdeb partially offset by intentionally lower production at Debmarine Namibia.
South Africa production increased by 27% to 0.6 million carats, due to Venetia underground and a slight improvement in grades of processed ore.
Production in Canada decreased by 43% to 0.5 million carats because of planned actions to treat lower grade ore.
De Beers further reported that full year consolidated sales volumes were down 28% year-on-year while the average price increased by 3% to $152 per carat. The company said this reflects "a larger proportion of higher value rough diamonds being sold, partially offset by a 20% decrease in the average rough price index."
For 2025, De Beers revised its production guidance downwards to 20-23 million carats, from a previous forecast of 30-33 million carats. The company says it remains focused on managing cash flow, reducing inventory, and adjusting production in response to prevailing market conditions.
Anglo American, De Beers parent company, was forced to writedown De Beers by $2.9 billion, leaving De Beers with a value of $4.1 billion. The writedown means that Anglo has been able "to bring the carrying value of this business to a more reasonable $4.1 billion," Reuters reported.
Anglo American is in the process of divesting De Beers.
