De Beers, the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, said Tuesday it had decided to proceed with the closure and rehabilitation of its Voorspoed diamond mine in South Africa.
The Anglo American unit, which is currently spending $2 billion on the Venetia underground diamond mining project in Limpopo, said the move followed an extensive disposal process, which involved a rigorous due diligence exercise on the bidders to acquire Voorspoed.
The company concluded there were no suitable potential buyers — company capable of exhibiting a record of success technically, financially, and socially to sustainably operate the mine, located in Kroonstad, Free State.
“We have reluctantly taken the decision to close the operation, in a responsible manner, as it is no longer economically viable for De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) to operate the mine,” Phillip Barton, DBCM chief executive officer, said in the statement.
“We do not underestimate the impact this will have on Voorspoed Mine’s employees and we have put in place appropriate support structures,” he noted.
Diamond exploration in South Africa is at multi-decade lows due to increasing red-tape in the granting of prospecting licenses. De Beers itself, which will be down to a single mine in South Africa after the closure of Voorspoed, has 54 exploration applications stuck with the Department of Mineral Resources, some for two years.
Voorspoed, one of South Africa’s largest diamond mines, is not the only operation De Beers is planning to close. In November, the company announced it was shutting its Victor mine, the first and only commercial diamond operation in the Canadian province of Ontario, in early 2019.
De Beers is also said to have decided to close four mines in Namibia by 2022, Mineworkers Union of Namibia Oranjemund branch chairman, Mbidhi Shavuka, told The Namibian Sun (subs. required) last year.
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From:: Infomine