Chamwe Kaira
Namibia’s diamond production fell by 21% to 500 000 carats in the fourth quarter of 2025, mainly due to scheduled maintenance on two vessels and extended in-port time to install a next-generation subsea crawler on the Benguela Gem diamond recovery vessel.
The decommissioning of two vessels earlier in the year, a response to current industry conditions, also contributed to the decline.
Debmarine Namibia produced 286 000 carats during the quarter, while Namdeb land operations produced 173 000 carats. The figures are contained in the production report for the quarter ended 31 December 2025.
Anglo American, which owns De Beers, the 50/50 partner with the Namibian government in Debmarine and Namdeb, reported that its overall rough diamond production fell by 35% to 3.8 million carats in the fourth quarter. The drop was mainly due to maintenance shutdowns at the Jwaneng and Orapa operations.
As a result, production in Botswana declined by 56% to 1.9 million carats. Jwaneng was offline for the entire quarter as planned after optimising plant utilisation ahead of the maintenance period, while Orapa carried out a shutdown in October.
“The operations will continue to prioritise cost management by maintaining a balance between optimal plant throughput and maintenance downtime,” the company said.
In South Africa, diamond production fell by 10% to 500 000 carats due to planned plant maintenance.
Production in Canada rose to 900 000 carats as the Gahcho Kue mine accessed new ore from the latest cut following the completion of its initial waste stripping phase.
Anglo American said rough diamond trading conditions remained difficult during the quarter due to ongoing industry, geopolitical and tariff uncertainty.
Rough diamond sales from three sites in the fourth quarter of 2025 totalled 5.9 million carats, or 5.4 million carats on a consolidated basis. These sales generated consolidated revenue of US$571 million, higher than the 4.6 million carats sold in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The company said production guidance for 2026 has been revised to between 21 and 26 million carats on a 100% basis, down from the previous range of 26 to 29 million carats. The revision reflects the challenging rough diamond trading environment.
De Beers said it continues to monitor market conditions to align output with demand.
“As previously announced, Anglo American continues to pursue a dual-track separation for De Beers, and a structured sale process is currently under way,” the company said.
Caption
Willy Mertens
- Photo: Debmarine
