Namdeb production rose to 496 000 carats in fourth quarter

NAMDEB Holdings’ production increased 7% to 496 000 carats in the fourth quarter of last year, Anglo American, which owns De Beers reported yesterday.

Production in the third quarter was 449 000 carats. The second quarter of the year saw the highest production of 509 000 carats while 432 000 carats were produced in the first quarter.

De Beers rough diamond production fell 8% year on year to 8,3 million carats during the fourth quarter of 2014, Anglo American reported. Production for the full year 2014 rose 5% to 32 million carats.

The decline during the fourth quarter resulted from lower grades at the Botswana-located Orapa mine and the Venetia mine in South Africa, as well as a mandatory safety stoppage at Snap Lake following a fall of ground at the Canada mine. These were partially offset by increased production at the Jwaneng mine in Botswana, which benefited from improved plant availability, explained Anglo American, which owns 85% stake in De Beers.

Production at Debswana, De Beers’ Botswana subsidiary, fell 6% to 5,9 million carats across the Orapa, Jwaneng, Damtshaa and Letlhakane mines.

De Beers Canada saw production decline by 18% to 479 000 carats from the Snap Lake and Victor mines. Production from De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) in South Africa dropped 19% to 1,4 million carats from the Kimberley, Venetia and Voorspoed mines.

For the full year, Debswana’s production grew 7% to 24 million carats with solid increases at both Orapa and Jwaneng. Namdeb’s production rose 7% to 1,8 million carats, while production at De Beers Canada fell 6% to 1,8 million carats. Production at DBCM in South Africa fell 2% to 4,6 million carats.

– Rapaport,

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