De Beers to maintain its spending on exploration
But diamond company says it will turn to new technology, including a hi-tech detection method, to try to improve the rate of discoveries
Anglo American’s diamond unit De Beers will keep its diamond exploration budget steady at $35m in 2017, the company said, although it has turned to new technology to try to improve the rate of discoveries. Many mining companies cut exploration spending because of a slump in commodity prices in 2015, as well as a widening gap between expenditure and the value of resources found as the best quality ores are depleted. "Our exploration spending this year is likely to be in line with last year’s, around $35m," De Beers said. De Beers, however, is employing a hi-tech detection method that measures the tiny magnetic field shifts that indicate the presence of a kimberlite pipe, where diamonds are found, well below the surface of the earth. The industry as a whole invested about $7bn on exploration between 2000 and 2013, De Beers figures show. The results of this spending have been meagre. De Beers says only one diamond deposit of significant size has been discovered — Bunder in India, which...
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