Diamond Allocations in Africa and Use of Recycled Water in De Beers' Report to Society

(IDEX Online News) – De Beers sold $1.12 billion worth of rough diamonds to Sightholders for manufacture in southern Africa and provided $34.7 million in community social investment, according to 2011 Report to Society.

“It is how we work that defines who we are," said Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer in his introduction. The company said that the term ‘living up to diamonds’ embodies its commitment to operate in a manner that reflects the very qualities of the product it mines and sells.

The report offers an account of the role played by De Beers in supporting sustainable development in the countries in which it operates.

Highlights of the Report include:

♦ With a 29% growth in the price of rough diamonds over the course of 2011, the Family of Companies was able to increase payments to stakeholders around the world to $6.4 billion (2010: $5.0 billion). Of this, $4.4 billion was paid to stakeholders in Africa (2010: $3.33 billion);

♦ $1.12 billion in rough diamonds was supplied to Sightholders for manufacture in southern Africa, a 6.7 percent decline from 2010. Since 2007, over $5.3 billion in rough diamonds have been sold to Sightholders in producer countries, supporting the development of sustainable local manufacturing industries;

♦ Excluding De Beers employees, more than 300,000 diamond sector employees around the world were covered by the De Beers Best Practice Principles Assurance Programme (BPPs), an ethical, social and environmental compliance program that is independently verified by third party;

♦ The family of companies disbursed $34.7 million in community social investment, including contractually mandated initiatives and in-kind benefits (2010: $33.5 million). This amounts to 2.7% of pre-tax profits of $1,290 million, significantly in excess of the international benchmark of 1% (2010: 3.7%, $894 million);

♦ Over 200,000 hectares have been set aside for conservation, an area five times larger than De beers mining footprint (39,361 hectares). This includes the Diamond Route, an award winning nine-site tourism route across southern Africa;

♦ The use of reused and recycled water at our southern African mines remained relatively constant at approximately 46% (2010: 50%).

Click here to request a copy.