PRECIOUS STONES
Rough diamonds have not been mines’ best friend
Mine failures, news of pending closures and some companies missing output targets some of the issues diamond miners faced this year
The supply side of the rough diamond market had a less than stellar year, with mine failures, news of pending closures and some companies missing output targets or running into unforeseen difficulties. In SA the going has been particularly tough. Rockwell, an alluvial diamond miner, was brought to its knees by an unpaid creditor, who brought a liquidation order against the Canadian company operating in the Northern Cape. There is a buyer for its mining operations but Rockwell as an entity has reached the end of running them. De Beers has put its Voorspoed open-cast kimberlite mine up for sale, drawing a line under its second-last South African operation, leaving it just the large Venetia mine in which it is investing $2bn to switching mining from an open pit to an underground mine. There are still resources left at Voorspoed, but De Beers has no appetite for the capital required to expand the pit and reach deeper levels of the mine. In a smaller company’s hands there is a future at ...
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