Extra Sight Spurs De Beers Sales Increase

De Beers’ sales more than tripled in the third quarter as it held two sights compared to one the previous year.

Rough-diamond revenue during the three months that ended September 30 came to $700 million, from the sale of 5.7 million carats, De Beers said Tuesday. In the third quarter of 2024, the miner sold 2.1 million carats for total revenue of $213 million. Last year, due to the market downturn, the company canceled its August sight and combined it with the October sale.

The average price fell 3% to $155 per carat, reflecting the impact of a 14% drop in the average rough-price index. Strong demand for the higher-value stones that featured in the sales mix during the third quarter partially offset that decrease, De Beers explained. However, the difficult market continued to drag down sales.

“Rough-diamond trading conditions continued to be challenging during the third quarter,” the company said. “The improvement in rough-diamond demand seen during the first half of 2025 was undermined by new US tariffs on diamond imports from India.”

Production for the third quarter grew 38% to 7.7 million carats, compared to 5.6 million carats for the same period in 2024. The improvement received a major boost from higher production at the company’s Jwaneng mine in Botswana, in anticipation of an extended downtime for plant maintenance in the fourth quarter, De Beers said. Output in Botswana rose 51% to 6 million carats, and recovery was up 28% to 659,000 carats in South Africa, as the miner processed higher-grade underground ore.

In Namibia, production remained flat at 457,000 carats. Meanwhile, in Canada, output slid 15% to 511,000 carats as a result of the planned treatment of lower-grade ore.

The miner has maintained its production guidance of between 20 million and 23 million carats for the full year. However, it noted that it was monitoring rough-diamond trading conditions and would respond to the market accordingly. De Beers parent company Anglo America is also continuing its efforts to divest the diamond miner from its portfolio.

“We are making good progress with the dual-track separation, and a structured sale process is currently underway,” Anglo added.

Image: A rough diamond on a sorting table. (De Beers)