De Beers will suspend production at its Venetia mine in Limpopo for two years as the global natural diamond industry battles weak demand and growing competition from laboratory-grown diamonds.
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De Beers said will pause production at Venetia mine in Limpopo, South Africa’s biggest diamond mine employing about 4,400 staff, for two years to reduce costs.
The proposed action at Venetia mine follows the decision earlier this year to pause the Tuzo Phase 3 expansion project at the Gahcho Kué mine in Canada, the group said in a statement Monday.
De Beers is majority-owned by Anglo American, which is in turn seeking to offload its shareholding as the natural diamond market faces intense pressure from laboratory-grown gems and slower demand, and as Anglo is itself merging with Canada-based Teck Resources, both of which are focusing heavily on copper mining due to its surging demand from the global energy transition.
De Beers employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is the world’s largest diamond producer by value, with mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. The $2.3 billion underground expansion at Venetia that started in 2015 had been the largest investment in South Africa’s diamond industry in decades. Some 2.2 million carats were recovered from Venetia last year, the group’s website shows.
“We recognise the protracted challenging conditions as the diamond industry evolves, though we are encouraged by signs of consumer demand growth in the US and beyond, particularly in higher quality diamonds. The changes we are making are focused on underpinning our efficiency now and into the future, favourably positioning De Beers in its leadership role,” said the CEO, Al Cook, in a statement.
De Beers has been streamlining its business since 2024 to reduce costs, divest non-core assets and prioritise investment in activities that create the most value. Progress so far is indicated by the more than $100 million of annual overhead costs removed from the business, the sale or closure of a number of non-core assets, and significant reconfigurations to asset expansion projects.
Simultaneously, De Beers reinvested in natural diamond category marketing to support the industry’s efforts to grow natural diamond demand, launching new large-scale campaigns and collaborating with key stakeholders across the value chain to foster industry-wide investment.
However, Cook said "rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term" with production decreasing and several producers already having closed mines.
Rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain difficult due to cyclical and industry-specific factors. This is in spite of global consumer demand for natural diamond jewellery growing again last year, while natural diamond sales increased across US independent jewellers and into the first quarter of 2026, led by higher value diamonds and those promoted by De Beers’ Desert diamonds marketing campaign.
In addition, global rough diamond production is decreasing. Cook said the rephasing of capital expenditure at Venetia will involve critical infrastructure investment to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the mine, with the intention to support future production growth as business and industry conditions improve.
De Beers is engaging with stakeholders in accordance with relevant requirements as it moves through the process of shutting Venetia temporarily, and it intends to support impacted employees and continue to invest in its community and follow its "Social and Labour Plan commitments.
In parallel, the global operating model was being reconfigured to refocus and prioritise resources on the core operational businesses, and reduce its central corporate cost base.
De Beers Group intends to maintain current production levels through its other operations and previous production guidance remains unchanged. Venetia accounts for more than 40% of South Africa's annual diamond production and is the largest producer by value.
In the first quarter of 2026, Venetia’s rough diamond production increased by 53% reaching 0.7 million carats, largely as a result of processing higher volumes of underground ore. De Beers' entire diamond production in the first three months increased 17% to 7.1 million carats, primarily driven by planned ore release from Gahcho Kué in Canada and higher volumes from Venetia underground.
In Botswana, production increased by 5% to 4.8 million carats, as a result of higher recovered grade at Orapa. Jwaneng production was broadly consistent with the comparative period. Namibia's production for De Beers decreased by 12% to 0.6 million carats, due to maintenance on two vessels at Debmarine Namibia along with the impact of decommissioning two vessels in 2025.
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