Debswana Diamonds Down But De Beers Production Up

Plant maintenance at the Orapa Mine slowed down production at diamond company Debswana in the first quarter of the year by 8% compared to the same period last year, Mmegi reported. Anglo said that although planned plant maintenance at Orapa slowed down output, production at the flagship Jwaneng Mine is being ramped up.

Debswana's diamond production fell to 4.54 million carats, although it still provided the lion's share of De Beers 6.4 million carats recovered in the first three months of 2013, up 3% from 2012 Q1. Diamond production declined 21% compared with the previous quarter, however, with the Venetia Mine in South Africa experiencing flooding due to excessive rainfall.

Production at Namdeb jumped 35% to 429,000 carats while De Beers' operations in South Africa recovered one million carats in the quarter, up 49% from one year ago. De Beers Canada produced 398,000 carats compared with 267,000 carats in the first quarter of 2012, said the report.

http://www.israelidiamond.co.il/english/news.aspx?boneid=918&objId=12898