more diamond reading !!!Unlike my other investments ie., silver gold copper .... companies know a rough estimate the reserves they have , the commodity price, and the cost to retrieve such minerals.. Diamonds as you investors know can vary so much in grade, weight, etc. that what`s in the ground can vary to crap up to millions for a piece of stone.
That said its harder to predict when THIS mine will open but at .03 what`s the loss, mind you unfortunately most got in much higher.
Its nevertheless a boost to the morale article ...
Robert
https://mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page37?oid=81908&sn=Detail
DIAMONDS SPARKLE
Diamond market to shine - De Beers
World's biggest diamond miner says the industry may be turning around.
Posted: Wednesday , 15 Apr 2009
JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Reuters) - De Beers, the world's biggest producer of rough diamonds, said on Wednesday it had started to see signs of an improvement in the market that may continue for the rest of the year.
A worldwide economic slowdown brought on by the after-shocks of the global financial crisis has slashed demand for commodities including diamonds, forcing output cuts by De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by miner Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote).
The diamond producer has also said it plans to shed jobs globally to cut costs and survive the downturn.
"The first quarter of 2009 was a challenging time," Stephen Lussier, chairman of De Beers Botswana said in a statement.
"We have begun to see signs of improvement in the market and expect this to continue as the year unfolds."
Lussier said the global economic downturn had impacted all stages of the diamond pipeline, leading to high inventories by producers, which meant output had to be controlled.
He said diamond mining had restarted on Wednesday at Debswana, the world's biggest diamond producing company by value, following a 50-day pause in production.
Debswana is a 50/50 joint venture between De Beers and Botswana's government. Some 5,800 workers resumed work at three of four Debswana mines, namely Orapa, Letlhakane and Jwaneng.
Output at the firm's fourth and smallest mine, Damtshaa and at the Orapa No. 2 plant will be suspended for the rest of 2009.
The closures had cut production costs and preserved jobs, and given Debswana a chance to sell off some of the diamonds that had piled up in its inventories. It also carried out maintenance during the closure.
Namdeb, De Beer's joint venture in Namibia shut its mine for three months at the start of this month.
Consultation on job losses has begun at mines in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Canada as well at the head office in London, De Beers has previously said. The job cuts in South Africa would be in the hundreds out of a workforce of 3,500.
De Beers, which received a $500 million loan from its three shareholders including Anglo in February to help it weather the economic downturn, said last week it would cut production to save $1.5 billion in operating costs this year.
It also announced this month that it had stopped diamond exploration in the Democratic Republic of Congo because of financial pressure from the crisis. (Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Sharon Lindores) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/)
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