{"id":1184114,"date":"2020-05-13T09:05:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T14:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1023693"},"modified":"2020-05-13T09:05:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T14:05:05","slug":"these-three-countries-hold-80-of-global-diamond-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1184114","title":{"rendered":"These three countries hold 80% of global diamond reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Diamonds reserves in Russia, Congo and Botswana combined account for at least 80.6% of the world\u2019s total, estimated at about 1.1 billion million carats, a <a href=\"https:\/\/learnbonds.com\/news\/only-three-countries-control-over-80-of-global-diamond-reserves\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">report released on Wednesday<\/a> shows.<\/p>\n<div class='ad-slot' id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {    googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');    googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) {        if (event.isEmpty) {            var id = event.slot.getSlotElementId();            var x = document.getElementById(id);            if(x == null) return;            if (x.parentElement.classList.contains('ad-slot')) {                x.parentElement.style.display = 'none';            }\t\t\t\t        }    });});<\/script><\/div>\n<p>According to data gathered by London-based Learnbonds.com, Russia<br \/>\nhas the largest reserves at 650 million diamond carats, representing about 52%<br \/>\nof the global capacity. <\/p>\n<p>Congo comes second with 150 million carats or 13% of the world\u2019s total, the report shows, while Botswana takes the third place, with diamond reserves totalling 90 million carats.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country-1024x702.jpg\" alt=\"Three countries hold 80% of global diamond reserves\" class=\"wp-image-1023695\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country-768x527.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/world-diamond-reserves-by-country.jpg 1028w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><em>Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/learnbonds.com\/news\/only-three-countries-control-over-80-of-global-diamond-reserves\/\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learnbonds.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>South Africa and Australia also account for a significant portion<br \/>\nof the global reserves, with 54 and 39 million diamond carats respectively. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the current drop in demand, a result of lockdowns<br \/>\nmeasures triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, Learnbonds.com expects sales of<br \/>\nroughs to climb steadily in the next 30 years. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The study predicts that demand will hit 292 million carats by 2050, representing a growth of more than 88% by from 2018\u2019s figure of 155 million diamond carats. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>Sector in Crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The forecast seems almost too optimistic when considering current market conditions. The global diamond market was still reeling from a collapse in prices and sales since late 2018 when covid-19 hit them earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of months into serious measures to slow the spread<br \/>\nof the virus, it has already squashed diamond miners\u2019 dawning hopes of a recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Alrosa&nbsp;(MCX: ALRS), the world\u2019s top diamond producer by output, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/alrosas-anemic-april-sales-a-fresh-sign-of-market-agony\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">reported on Tuesday a 95% decline in sales<\/a> during April, comparted to the same months last year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rough-diamond-demand-forecast.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rough-diamond-demand-forecast.jpg\" alt=\"These three countries hold 80% of global diamond reserves\" class=\"wp-image-1023697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rough-diamond-demand-forecast.jpg 926w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rough-diamond-demand-forecast-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rough-diamond-demand-forecast-768x620.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><em>Courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/learnbonds.com\/news\/only-three-countries-control-over-80-of-global-diamond-reserves\/\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learnbonds.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last week, the Russian state-controlled company had decided to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/alrosa-halts-diamond-mining-at-two-assets\/\" >halt production at two of its mines<\/a>, citing worsening market conditions.<\/p>\n<p>De Beers, the world\u2019s largest producer by value,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/de-beers-axes-diamond-production-forecast-amid-market-collapse\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cut&nbsp;2020 production guidance by a fifth<\/a>&nbsp;last<br \/>\nmonth. It had earlier&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/de-beers-scraps-diamond-sales-event-due-to-coronavirus-lockdowns\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cancelled its April sales event<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s Dominion Diamond Mines, the controlling owner of<br \/>\nEkati mine and a 40% partner to Rio Tinto in the Diavik mine,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/cfcanada.fticonsulting.com\/Dominion\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed for<br \/>\ninsolvency protection<\/a>&nbsp;in April. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lucara Diamond\u00a0(TSX:LUC), another Canadian company,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/lucara-diamond-in-the-red-as-market-conditions-worsen\/\" >posted last week a net loss of $3.2 million<\/a>, or $0.01 a share, for the first three months of the year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>The global diamond market was still reeling from a collapse in prices and sales since late 2018 when covid-19 hit them earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The figure was in sharp contrast with the $7.4 million in<br \/>\nnet income, or $0.02 in earning per share the miner reported in the same period<br \/>\nlast year.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL)&nbsp;has recently<br \/>\ndelayed interest payments&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/petra-diamonds-delays-interest-payment-to-borrow-21m\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to borrow $21 million in new debt<\/a>, a crucial move to keep<br \/>\nthe company afloat.<\/p>\n<p>Investment banks are increasingly reluctant to extend credit<br \/>\nto diamond producers, as inventory is not being sold and defaults are possible,<br \/>\nanalysts have warned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned about oversupply of rough diamonds<br \/>\nfollowing the reopening of economies, as a lot of inventory could potentially<br \/>\nbe flooded into the system and the market might not be able to absorb all of<br \/>\nit, resulting in increased pricing pressure,\u201d Citi said in an early May note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia, Congo and Botswana combined have the lion&#8217;s share of the world&rsquo;s 1.1 billion million carats in reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1184114"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184253,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184114\/revisions\/1184253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1184114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1184114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1184114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}