De Beers Diamond Production Falls 31 Percent

De Beers’ announced its diamond production fell 31 percent to 6.37 million carats in the third quarter of 2012 from 9.3 million carats in the same period of last year.

As quoted in the press release:

De Beers’ parent company Anglo American said in a statement on Thursday that the significant fall is largely in response to market conditions and slope failure in its Jwaneng mine in Botswana in June 2012 which temporarily prevented access to the main ore body.

The company said market conditions reflect a combination of a softening in the polished diamond market and a credit-constrained rough diamond market.

Click here to read the De Beers report.