De Beers production declines 23% in Q3
De Beers Group has recorded a 23% decrease in production to 7.4 million carats in the third quarter.
The company attributed the drop to the ongoing transition at Venetia and planned maintenance at its diamond mines in Botswana.
The Venetia mine in South Africa saw the biggest decline, as production decreased by 78% to 0.4 million carats.
De Beers stated that Venetia will continue to process lower grade surface stockpiles as the underground operations ramp-up production over the next few years.
Meanwhile, in Botswana, production decreased by 12% to 5.8 million carats, driven by lower throughput at Orapa due to planned maintenance, and production in Namibia was flat at 530,000 carats.
In Canada, production at the Gahcho Kué mine totaled 676,000 carats, a decline of 9% year-over-year. De Beers attributed the drop to planned treatment of lower-grade ore.
During the quarter, rough diamond sales totaled 7.4 million carats from three sights, compared with 9.1 million carats from three sights in Q3 2022, and 7.6 million carats from two sights in Q2 2023.
Despite the decline, De Beers said its production guidance for 2023 remains unchanged at 30-33 million carats, as does its unit cost guidance ($75/carat) (£61.9lcarat).
Going forward, De Beers will also continue to support its sightholders to help re-establish equilibrium between wholesale supply and demand by providing full flexibility for rough diamond allocations in sights 9 and 10 of 2023.