South Africa: A NEW RECORD FOR PRODUCTION OF DIAMONDS
The Ministry of Mineral Resources of the Republic of South Africa announced the preliminary statistics showing that the volume of diamond mining in South Africa in 2004 reached a record high of 14.4 million carats. Compared with 12.8 million carats in 2003, an increase of 11%, with the largest production in the mines of Kimberley and Venetia company De Beers. With the growth in production, the continued depreciation of the dollar against the rand and rising prices by 14% in 2004, the cost of production, according to preliminary estimates, rose to $ 1.1 billion last year, according to Mining Weekly. Of the 86 license holders on production and exploration activities in 2004, 18 kimberlite was mined, 47 developed alluvial deposits (placer), and 21 diamonds mined in the marine environment. Production of kimberlite was about 13 million carats (or 90.3%) of the total, which is much higher than the amount in 2003 to 11.4 million carats - the result of increased production in the mines of Kimberley and Venetia company De Beers.
The contribution of diamonds from alluvial deposits in the total production is 1.33 million carats, quite a bit higher than the amount in 2003.
