De Beers Pauses Botswana Mining

De Beers’ mining operations in Botswana have been on hold for more than two weeks amid a national lockdown, the company told Rapaport News.

Debswana, the company’s joint venture with the government, paused activities on April 2 when the coronavirus-related restrictions began, a De Beers spokesperson said Friday. The miner had not previously disclosed its full response to the Botswana lockdown, and will publish an updated production forecast in its operational results this Thursday.

Operations at Debswana are currently limited to essential services, with a small number of staff members still working.

De Beers’ current production outlook for 2020 is 32 million to 34 million carats — a plan that’s been in place since December, when it reduced its guidance due to inventory rebalancing taking place in the industry. It had previously expected to unearth between 33 million and 35 million carats for the year.

Botswana initially instituted a 28-day lockdown, and later extended the state of emergency for six months. Mining has received the status of an essential service, De Beers noted, adding that it was discussing how it could restart operations with health precautions in place.

“Debswana has been engaging with key stakeholders and considering the appropriate recommencement of operations, albeit at a significantly reduced level,” a company spokesperson said.

The country is De Beers’ largest source of rough diamonds, with the Jwaneng and Orapa deposits last year contributing 23.3 million carats of its global output of 30.8 million carats. The pandemic also forced it to cancel its March-April sight in Gaborone, the capital, as buyers were unable to attend or ship goods.

De Beers has also reduced the number of workers at Venetia, its only mine in South Africa, by 75% in response to a lockdown there. In addition, the company has introduced precautions at its Gahcho Kué mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, including changing workers’ shift patterns to minimize travel.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Pauses Botswana Mining

De Beers’ mining operations in Botswana have been on hold for more than two weeks amid a national lockdown, the company told Rapaport News.

Debswana, the company’s joint venture with the government, paused activities on April 2 when the coronavirus-related restrictions began, a De Beers spokesperson said Friday. The miner had not previously disclosed its full response to the Botswana lockdown, and will publish an updated production forecast in its operational results this Thursday.

Operations at Debswana are currently limited to essential services, with a small number of staff members still working.

De Beers’ current production outlook for 2020 is 32 million to 34 million carats — a plan that’s been in place since December, when it reduced its guidance due to inventory rebalancing taking place in the industry. It had previously expected to unearth between 33 million and 35 million carats for the year.

Botswana initially instituted a 28-day lockdown, and later extended the state of emergency for six months. Mining has received the status of an essential service, De Beers noted, adding that it was discussing how it could restart operations with health precautions in place.

“Debswana has been engaging with key stakeholders and considering the appropriate recommencement of operations, albeit at a significantly reduced level,” a company spokesperson said.

The country is De Beers’ largest source of rough diamonds, with the Jwaneng and Orapa deposits last year contributing 23.3 million carats of its global output of 30.8 million carats. The pandemic also forced it to cancel its March-April sight in Gaborone, the capital, as buyers were unable to attend or ship goods.

De Beers has also reduced the number of workers at Venetia, its only mine in South Africa, by 75% in response to a lockdown there. In addition, the company has introduced precautions at its Gahcho Kué mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, including changing workers’ shift patterns to minimize travel.

Source: DCLA

Alrosa achieves good first-quarter sales, maintains diamond output guidance

Russia-based diamond miner Alrosa produced eight-million carats of diamonds and sold 9.4-million carats in the first quarter of the year.

The company generated sales revenues of $904-million from rough and polished diamonds.

This was despite diamond production seasonally declining by 9% quarter-on-quarter, although year-on-year diamond production growth was 2%. The year-on-year growth was supported by increased production at the company’s Jubilee pipe, as well as at the Aikhal and international underground mines.

Alrosa says the average realised prices for gem-quality diamonds in the first quarter was $123/ct, which was down 17% quarter-on-quarter and flat year-on-year.

The company maintains its full-year production guidance of 34.2-million carats, but says sales volumes will depend on the Covid-19 epidemiological situation and respective measures taken globally.

Alrosa says the diamond industry started the year off in good shape as consumer sentiment had improved across key markets for diamond jewellery, while inventories at the midstream had normalised and polished diamond prices began to recover.

However, following closures of markets in China and Hong Kong in February, and then later in Europe and the US, demand started to weaken.

Alrosa says it might need to update its production and prices data during the year, depending on what happens in the market.

Source: miningweekly

Alrosa achieves good first-quarter sales, maintains diamond output guidance

Russia-based diamond miner Alrosa produced eight-million carats of diamonds and sold 9.4-million carats in the first quarter of the year.

The company generated sales revenues of $904-million from rough and polished diamonds.

This was despite diamond production seasonally declining by 9% quarter-on-quarter, although year-on-year diamond production growth was 2%. The year-on-year growth was supported by increased production at the company’s Jubilee pipe, as well as at the Aikhal and international underground mines.

Alrosa says the average realised prices for gem-quality diamonds in the first quarter was $123/ct, which was down 17% quarter-on-quarter and flat year-on-year.

The company maintains its full-year production guidance of 34.2-million carats, but says sales volumes will depend on the Covid-19 epidemiological situation and respective measures taken globally.

Alrosa says the diamond industry started the year off in good shape as consumer sentiment had improved across key markets for diamond jewellery, while inventories at the midstream had normalised and polished diamond prices began to recover.

However, following closures of markets in China and Hong Kong in February, and then later in Europe and the US, demand started to weaken.

Alrosa says it might need to update its production and prices data during the year, depending on what happens in the market.

Source: miningweekly

Alrosa implements guidance to avoid conflict diamonds

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond miner by volume, announced that it will start implementing the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.

In a press release, the company said that to improve the efficiency of this work and guarantee compliance, it has launched an internal diamond supply chain management system. The mechanism is based on the Regulations on Responsible Diamond Supply Chain Management recently approved by its executive committee.

According to Alrosa, the internal diamond tracking and traceability system applies to all the segments of the diamond supply chain. It allows the firm to provide its clients with the information not only on the country of origin but the region of origin of its rough and polished diamond production.

The system also guarantees that rough diamonds produced by Alrosa in different regions are not mixed in the process of sorting, valuation, cutting and polishing, and trading.

“As part of Alrosa obligations as a certified RJC member, we are very proud to launch our tailored diamond supply chain due diligence system,” Peter Karakchiev, head of international relations, said in the media brief.

“It marks the start of a process which we believe will positively contribute to ensuring that all Alrosa diamonds are produced in compliance with the high standards of responsible business conduct.”

Source: DCLA

Alrosa implements guidance to avoid conflict diamonds

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond miner by volume, announced that it will start implementing the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.

In a press release, the company said that to improve the efficiency of this work and guarantee compliance, it has launched an internal diamond supply chain management system. The mechanism is based on the Regulations on Responsible Diamond Supply Chain Management recently approved by its executive committee.

According to Alrosa, the internal diamond tracking and traceability system applies to all the segments of the diamond supply chain. It allows the firm to provide its clients with the information not only on the country of origin but the region of origin of its rough and polished diamond production.

The system also guarantees that rough diamonds produced by Alrosa in different regions are not mixed in the process of sorting, valuation, cutting and polishing, and trading.

“As part of Alrosa obligations as a certified RJC member, we are very proud to launch our tailored diamond supply chain due diligence system,” Peter Karakchiev, head of international relations, said in the media brief.

“It marks the start of a process which we believe will positively contribute to ensuring that all Alrosa diamonds are produced in compliance with the high standards of responsible business conduct.”

Source: DCLA

Petra Diamonds founder steps down

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds is saying goodbye to Adonis Pouroulis, the company’s founder and chairman for 23 years.

The diamond producer, which dropped the role of chief operating officer in November because of management restructuring, said Pouroulis is being succeeded by Peter Hill, who was appointed a non-executive director of Petra and chairman-designate in December.

Hill began his career in the gold division of Anglo American, moving later to Rossing Uranium in Namibia, then to London as mining engineer with then BP Minerals, and later joining Consolidated Gold Fields.

Petra has been seeking to turn around its fortunes after piling up debt to expand its iconic Cullinan mine in South Africa, where the world’s largest-ever diamond was found in 1905.

In September, it reported a 22% drop in annual profit amid falling diamond prices and the company’s investment in Cullinan aimed at reviving the aging operation. The company’s share price collapsed to a record low as it also revealed it was writing down the value of its mines. 

Just when the first signs of stabilization in the sector were starting to appear, the novel coronavirus pandemic forced Petra to halt its production outlook for 2020.

The company closed its mines in South Africa last week for a mandatory 21-day lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of covid-19.

Its remote Williamson diamond mine, in Tanzania, said Petra, continues to be “closely monitored.”

Souce: DCLA