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- The lure of diamond mining is in the large returns of such mines as Jwaneng in Botswana and Venetia in South Africa; the profit margins on these mines are 88% and 82% respectively [AWDC, 06/09/07]
- Rough diamond supply is likely to fall short of expected demand within the nest 3 to 5 years. Production growth will be limited as older mines become deeper and production is scaled back, while new production is not expected to fill the gap [National Post, 30/09/08]
- Rough production dipped in 2007 and there are no major new mines on the horizon beyond Snap Lake and Victor in Canada, which are not anywhere near the size of the 8 major mines that are currently reducing production [BMO Capital Markets, 5/09/08]
- BMO predicts supply shortage of US$5 billion by 2012 -- impossible to fill [BMO Capital Markets, 5/09/08]
- The established diamond miners are seeing production fall off as mines mature and start having to move from being open pit operations to underground mines where the economics are different and overall production tends to reduce. [Mineweb, 30/01/08]
- The decline in production by the big mines is not yet being offset by large new diamond mines being brought into production and the general consensus is that the demand to supply gap will continue to increase in the next few years [Mineweb, 30/01/08]
- Australia looks to be shedding about 25% of its annual output, Russia is struggling to maintain reserves, while much of Africa with key diamond producers is Sierra Leone, Angola, Central African Republic, Liberia and the DRC all have inherent political and logistical problems which make diamond mining fraught with uncertainty [Mineweb, 30/01/08]
- World production of natural rough diamonds in 2006 was estimated at 163 million carats valued at $12.5 billion. Of this, Canada's three mines supplied about 11% by value, which should rise to 14% by 2009.
- The construction of mines isn't keeping pace with demand fuelled by a growing world economy. There is not enough supply coming up within the next 5 to 10 years to meet the demand just based on GDP growth. [Bloomberg 17/10/07]
- An estimated 10 million people globally are directly or indirectly supported by the diamond industry. [Diamondfacts.org]
References:
Antwerp Facets News Service; Antwerp World Diamond Centre;
Bloomberg News; BMO Capital Markets; diamondfacts.org; Government of Northwest Territories; Gulf News; Isreali Diamond Company; Miningmx.com; National Post; Natural Resources Canada; News Room; Rapaport News |
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