De Beers reported that its rough diamond production for Q2 that ended 30th June, 2020 decreased by 54% to 3.5 million carats, primarily due to the Covid-19 lockdowns in southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mining operations resumed following regional lockdowns with Covid-19 measures in place to safeguard the workforce; with production at lower levels reflecting reduced demand for rough diamonds due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Botswana, production decreased by 68% to 1.8 million carats, principally due to a nationwide lockdown from 2nd April to 18th May and the implementation of Covid-19 measures to safeguard the workforce. Operations restarted from mid-May, with production targeted at levels to meet the lower demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Namibia production increased by 7% to 0.4 million carats as the Mafuta crawler vessel was under planned maintenance in Q2 2019. With targeted regional lockdowns in Namibia in response to Covid-19, marine operations implemented measures to enable operational continuity while safeguarding the workforce. This more than offset the decrease in production from Covid-19 at the land operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South African production decreased by 3% to 0.6 million carats primarily due to Covid-19 measures. The production shutdown was partly offset by higher grades from the open pit material prior to transition to the underground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Production in Canada decreased by 27% to 0.8 million carats, primarily due to Victor reaching the end of its life in Q2 2019. At Gahcho Ku\u00e9, production decreased by 11% to 0.8 million carats due to Covid-19 measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Beers noted that during Q2, the demand for rough diamonds was significantly impacted by a combination of Covid-19 restrictions impacting consumer demand and access to southern Africa, as well as severely limited midstream cutting and polishing capacity due to lockdowns, particularly in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rough diamond sales totalled 0.3 million carats (0.2 million carats on a consolidated basis) compared with 9.0 million carats (8.3 million carats on a consolidated basis) in Q2 2019. The third Sight of 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19-related travel restrictions and, in response to the unprecedented industry conditions, De Beers also offered Sightholders the option to defer up to 100% of their allocations at the fourth and fifth Sights. Rough diamond consolidated sales in Q2 2020 decreased to $56 million (Q2 2019: $1.3 billion), driven by lower volumes and prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The H1 2020 average realised rough diamond price decreased by 21% to $119\/carat (H1 2019: $151\/carat), driven by a higher proportion of lower value rough diamonds sold and an 8% reduction in the average rough price index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Beers left its full-year production guidance unchanged at 25-27 million carats (100% basis), subject to continuous review based on the disruptions related to Covid-19 as well as the timing and scale of the recovery in demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caption: Covid-19 precautionary measures being taken at the Venetia mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Credit: Photo by Simphiwe Nkwali \/ \u00a9 De Beers 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
De Beers reported that its rough diamond production for Q2 that ended 30th June, 2020 decreased by 54% to 3.5 million carats, primarily due to the Covid-19 lockdowns in southern Africa. Mining operations resumed following regional lockdowns with Covid-19 measures in place to safeguard the workforce; with production at lower levels reflecting reduced demand for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,96,100],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-5229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin","category-diamonds","category-in-focus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n