DE BEERS S.A.

De Beers S. A.

Company summary

http://www.infomine.com/index/companies/DE_BEERS_S.A..html De Beers, a private company, is

engaged in exploration, mining and marketing of rough diamonds. It is a wholly owned by DB Investments
which is owned by Government of Botswana (15%), Central Holdings Group (40%) and Anglo American
Group (45%).

www.debeersgroup.com

De Beers, established in 1888, is the world’s leading rough diamond company with unrivalled expertise
in the exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds. De Beers, and its joint venture partners, operate
in more than 20 countries across five continents employing more than 13,000 people. From its mining
operations across Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada, De Beers produces and markets
approximately 40 percent of the world’s supply of rough diamonds. As part of the company’s operating
philosophy, the people of De Beers are committed to Living up to Diamonds by making a lasting
contribution to the communities in which they live and work. In the countries in which we have mining
operations, this means carrying out profitable business, whilst at the same time helping Governments
achieve their aspirations of turning natural resources into shared national wealth. De Beers encourages
sustainable working to ensure long-term positive development for Africa, and returns more than US$2.0
billion to the continent every year. For further information about De Beers visit

http://www.diamondnewsagency.com/De-Beers-Selling-Diamond-MineDe
Beers Selling Diamond Mine
9/29/2010 4:37:22 AM  Simona Kogan

De Beers, one of the world's biggest diamond producers, has

sold its Jagersfontein mine in South Africa's Free State province.  The mine was sold to the
Superkolong Consortium, a black economic empowerment holding (BEE)

"I am very pleased to say that De Beers…has concluded another transaction to company.  While
the mine stopped operating in 1971, De Beers only announced their attention to sell it in April. 
The Consortium would acquire all assets of the mine, including the mine dumps. introduce
miners with empowerment credentials to opportunities which have the potential to deliver
significant returns to many," acting De Beers CEO Barend Peterson said.

Before ending in 1971, the mine operated for 100 years and left more than 13 million tons of
mineral resources in tailings. 

The Jagersfontein community would be the sole beneficiary of a community trust which would
hold a 10% equity interest in the consortium's assets.  The community trust has yet to be
established.  Members of the consortium as well as members of the local community would be
selected as trustees. The Consortium has been committed to facilitating a skills transfer to
members of the community. Ultimately, they'd like to source skilled labor from Jagersfontein.

Superkolong has met all of De Beers' standards.  They have technical competence, available
funding to develop the new processing operation, BEE equity participation, employment
creation, and significant community based initiatives.

http://www.infomine.com/index/pr/Pa914545.PDF De Beers is considering interest expressed in two

mines
29th July, 2010
De Beers announced today that it had received approaches from potential investors
interested in purchasing Namaqualand Mines and Finsch Mine in the Northern Cape. The
interest comes on the back of the continuing recovery in the diamond market.
To assess these expressions of interest appropriately, De Beers will undertake a
systematic review process that will include evaluating the offers received from
companies with good mining track records, and strong empowerment credentials. In
addition interested parties will have to satisfy many other economic, social and
environmental criteria when formulating their submissions.
The Acting CEO of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), Barend Petersen stated; “We
have had approaches from companies interested in discussing the future of Namaqualand
Mines and Finsch Mine in the Northern Cape. De Beers has decided to invite separate
expressions of interest in each mine through a select tender process.”
It is expected that the process will take a number of months to reach a conclusion -
extending at least well into 2011. Production at Finsch will continue as planned, while
economic development and environmental rehabilitation projects will continue at
Namaqualand Mines where production was temporarily suspended in April 2010.
Barend Petersen concluded: “Should attractive offers be forthcoming the introduction of
a new investor at Finsch, with its significant underground resources, and at
Namaqualand, with its alluvial reserves, will impact positively on the Northern Cape and
extend the life of the mines into the next decade at least."
http://www.infomine.com/index/pr/Pa914991.PDF Finsch Mine restructuring process
handled correctly, and for business sustainability reasons
2 June 2010, Johannesburg Finsch Mine, situated in the Northern Cape, announced on 5 May
2010 that it had issued Section 189 notices to all the employees at the Mine. Of the 870
employees at the Mine an estimated 350 positions, some of which are vacant, may be affected
in the restructuring process now underway.
The final number of employees affected will be determined by the outcome of the consultation
process and it is therefore impossible to predict the actual number of people affected until after
the two month consultation process is concluded.
The Section 189 notice was issued in the prescribed and correct manner to all the mine’s
employees, and not to specific grades of employees. We understand the basis of the NUM's
statement that the process was ‘irregular’ is based on a point that specific job grades were not
detailed in the notice; however, as said. no specific job grades were exclusively affected.
De Beers Consolidated Mines has to run all its operations profitably, and in the case of Finsch it
has incurred significant financial losses as a result of a number of factors impacting on the
profitability of its mining business; including the high costs of operating Finsch Mine.
Finsch Mine has taken many steps to mitigate these challenges by implementing a number of
measures to curtail costs, with some measure of success.
Notwithstanding these facts the company naturally continues to comply with all its legal
obligations, including Finsch’s Social and Labour Plan. As part of this, a Future Forum has been
established at Finsch Mine which is comprised of management and the respective employee
representative bodies, including the NUM. One of the key focus areas of the Future Forum is to
play an active role in coming up with means to mitigate the impact of retrenchments on
employees, including identifying portable skills training to be provided to the affected
employees.
The company is exploring various options in order to minimise the impact of this restructuring on
our valued employees, such as; transfers within the Company, engaging with other
neighbouring mines regarding the potential for re-employment of employees that may be
displaced, acceptance by eligible employees of voluntary early retirement and voluntary
retrenchment packages, and other opportunities for reasonable alternative employment.
A revised business model has been introduced to make Finsch Mine a sustainable business in
2010; and in the years to come.
De Beers Consolidated Mines employs 2 500 employees on six mining operations in SA.

http://www.infomine.com/index/pr/Pa914967.PDF De Beers’ response to today’s

announcement by Petra Diamonds and Sedibeng Mining of the Completion of
the Kimberley Underground Mines Acquisition
19 May 2010 Johannesburg Sakhile Ngcobo, Head of De Beers’ Public and Corporate
Affairs in South Africa, today congratulated the Petra and Sedibeng joint venture on
announcing the Completion of the Kimberley Underground Mines Acquisition. He said; ”In
concluding this transaction De Beers particularly appreciates the role played by the
Department of Mineral Resources, and the other National and Provincial departments. This
transaction involves the underground mine operations in Kimberley which have a history of
over a century of mining and, from today, which now have a future into this next century.
De Beers is encouraged that the new owners, Sedibeng Mining (holding 26 per cent), with a
successful track record of other diamond mining operations in Kimberley and elsewhere,
and the well-established Petra Diamonds (74 per cent), are committed owners and have
already invested in new plant and expect to reopen the mines in the very near future.
Ngcobo confirmed that De Beers will continue to manage its surface mining at Kimberley Mines,
which operates independently of the underground mine workings. De Beers has a custom-built
recovery plant developed to efficiently treat and to recover diamonds which produced almost 400
000 carats during the past twelve months, despite the global economic downturn. The Mine is
increasing production to meet the anticipated demand during the remainder of 2010 and in 2011.

http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=34626

De Beers 3rd Quarter Production +15%

(October 24, '10, 5:46 Whitney Hepp)
(IDEX Online News) - De Beers mined 9 million carats of diamonds in the third quarter,
increasing 15 percent year over year and 7 percent over the June quarter. The figures
were released on Thursday by mining conglomerate Anglo American, 45 percent owner
of De Beers.
 
Production increased “in response to market demand in advance of the holiday retail seasons,
which run from Thanksgiving through to Christmas, and include Diwali,” Anglo American said.
 
It added that higher production was mainly due to improved recoveries in Botswana and South
Africa, partly offset by lower recoveries from Namibia and Canada.
 
De Beers’ diamond production in the first nine months of 2010 is 24.4 million carats. In the first
half of the year, the company mined 15.4 million carats and sales by the Diamond Trading
Company (DTC) totaled $2.6 billion or about $169 per carat.
 
Anglo American reported that platinum production increased by 11 percent to 697,000
ounces year.

http://af.reuters.com/article/southAfricaNews/idAFWEA304820101019?

De Beers plans to raise

feedType=RSS&feedName=southAfricaNews

output at Botswana mine

Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:12pm GMT
 
Print | Single Page
[-] Text [+]
JWANENG, Botswana, October 19 (Reuters) - Botswana's Jwaneng mine, the richest
diamond mine in the world, plans to produce 102 million carats worth $15 billion over seven
years at its Cut 8 expansion project.

The expansion of Jwaneng mine, which is operated by Debswana Diamond Company, will
cost its shareholders -- De Beers and the Botswana government -- $3 billion to extend the
mine's life by seven years from 2017 to 2024.

Jwaneng mine general manager Balisi Bonyongo said at the project site, 170 kilometres
south-west of the capital Gaborone that the company would remove 658 million tonnes of
waste material to more than double the deepening of the mine to 650 metres to create a
'super pit' and mine for more diamonds.

"Cut 8 will not ...increase the amount of diamonds produced by Jwaneng, but rather enable
us to continue our current production levels to sustain the mine," Bonyongo told journalists
during a tour of the mine. (Writing by Shapi Shacinda)
http://www.miningreview.com/node/18557De Beers expects 50% boost in
output this year

One of the vessels 

used by De Beers
to 
scoop up diamonds
from the sea floor

Johannesburg, South Africa --- MININGREVIEW.COM --- 07 October 2010 - Diamond mining giant De Beers ‒ the world's
largest diamond producer ‒ expects to boost output in South Africa by nearly 50% this year as global demand recovers,
but has abandoned an effort to mine gems in the country's coastal waters.

“South Africa's diamond output would jump to about seven million carats in 2010 from 4.8 million carats last year, when
some mines were temporarily shut due to the global downturn, said Barend Petersen, acting CEO of the group's local unit
De Beers Consolidated Mines.

De Beers, which controls around 40% of the rough diamond market, also plans a R15billion investment over 10 years at its
flagship Venetia mine, to maintain output and extend mine life to 2043, Petersen said in an interview here.

He added that De Beers, which also operates in Canada, Botswana and Namibia, would produce an estimated 31 million
carats for the group in 2010, up from 24.6 million carats the previous year.

Petersen went on to explain that De Beers had consolidated all its marine diamond operations in Namibian waters,
abandoning an effort off the South African coast after obtaining low grade gems there.

De Beers has long used sophisticated vessels to scoop up gems from the sea floor off Namibia, and in 2006 launched a
project worth nearly R1billion to outfit another vessel and use the same techniques off the South African coast. “In the
Namibian waters, it was an exceptional turnaround. So in terms of our marine business, it's clearly more advantageous for
us to mine the sea waters of Namibia than the South African sea waters,” said Petersen.

He revealed that plans by the South African unit to sell its Namaqualand and Finsch diamond mines would be concluded as
expected by the first half of 2011, to enable it focus on profitable units.

“We have decided that we should stop the bleeding. We will sell off underperforming units over time,” he said.