South Africa diamond production falls by 8.3 percent

The Statistics South Africa have recorded a dip in diamond production at South Africa during the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. The fall was of 7.5 percent, over the earlier three months of 2008. The preliminary report indicated a fall in the contribution of the diamond sector to the total production, the decrease being of 0.8 percentage points from quarter to quarter, averaging to 8.3 percent between July and September.

Over the years, South Africa’s diamond production has been showing a slow regress ranking as the world’s fourth largest producer by value in 2007, following Botswana, Russia and Canada. The reports by Kimberley Process showed a dip of 4 percent in production, which valued at $1.361 billion in 2007, and a 2 percent fall in terms of volume to 14.9 million carats.

The production in 2009 is estimated to be more stable that the dipping production of 2008, following the launch of the Voorspoed mine by De Beers and with Petra Diamonds engaging in improving recoveries at Cullinan and Koffiefontein mines.