De Beers announced its rough diamond production increased by 8 percent to 7.4 million carats, at the end of Q1 017, reflecting the contribution of Gahcho Kué in Canada, as well as increases in response to improved trading conditions.

Debswana’s (Botswana) production decreased marginally to 5.2 million carats. At Jwaneng, production decreased 8 percent due to expected lower grades, partly offset by Orapa, which increased by 5 percent due to higher grades.

Production at Namdeb Holdings (Namibia) increased by 6 percent to 0.5 million carats due to marginally higher grade at Namdeb. In DBCM (South Africa), production increased by 19 percent to 1.1 million carats largely as a result of higher grades at Venetia.

Production in Canada increased by 290 per cent to 0.6 million carats due to the contribution of Gahcho Kué, which reached commercial production on 2 March 2017.

Total rough diamond sales volumes in Q1 2017 were 14.1 million carats (13.7 million carats on a consolidated basis) from three Sights, compared with 8.1 million carats (7.6 million carats on a consolidated basis) from two Sights in Q1 2016. In addition, this increase reflected stronger demand in Sight 1 2017, particularly for lower value goods in stock at 31 December 2016. The company notes that its full year production guidance remains unchanged at 31 – 33 million carats, subject to trading conditions.