De Beers 3rd Quarter Production +15%

(IDEX Online News) - De Beers mined 9 million carats of diamonds in the third quarter, increasing 15 percent year over year and 7 percent over the June quarter. The figures were released on Thursday by mining conglomerate Anglo American, 45 percent owner of De Beers.

Production increased “in response to market demand in advance of the holiday retail seasons, which run from Thanksgiving through to Christmas, and include Diwali,” Anglo American said.

It added that higher production was mainly due to improved recoveries in Botswana and South Africa, partly offset by lower recoveries from Namibia and Canada.

De Beers’ diamond production in the first nine months of 2010 is 24.4 million carats. In the first half of the year, the company mined 15.4 million carats and sales by the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) totaled $2.6 billion or about $169 per carat.

Anglo American reported that platinum production increased by 11 percent to 697,000 ounces year.