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De Beers, Namibia launch
world's biggest diamond exploration ship
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 [June 15, 2017]
By Barbara Lewis
LONDON
(Reuters) - Anglo American's diamond unit De Beers on Thursday
launched the world's largest diamond exploration vessel off the coast of
Namibia as it looks to maintain high production levels until 2035.
The 12,000-tonne, 113-metre-long SS Nujoma was built at a cost of $157
million and is named after Sam Nujoma, Namibia's founding president.
"I am very, very confident this (vessel) will allow us to continue to
extract 1.2 million carats a year," De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver told
Reuters by telephone.
He said he was "cautiously optimistic" about diamond sales in 2017 and
in terms of value there have been "some small positive movements" but it
was too early to declare a trend.
Anglo American and De Beers rely heavily on diamonds. Anglo American
says they are central to its portfolio of assets as they tend to hold
value when bulk commodities fall in price.
Diamonds are also important to Namibia as they generate 20 percent of
its foreign export earnings. Namibia receives 80 cents of every Namibian
dollar generated by Debmarine Namibia, its 50:50 joint venture with De
Beers.
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The SS Nujoma, the world's largest diamond exploration vessel, owned
by De Beers, is seen in this undated archive Handout photograph
provided to Reuters, June 15, 2017. De Beers Group/Handout via
Reuters
Marine
diamonds are particularly prized. They are generally more valuable than
land-based stones because lower quality gems are washed away by waves.
Debmarine Namibia produced 1.2 million carats of diamonds in 2016, a level De
Beers says it can maintain until 2035 when its license expires on a 6,000 square
km area.
The SS Nujoma is the sixth diamond exploration vessel to join Debmarine
Namibia's fleet. It can hunt for diamonds at more than double the speed of its
predecessor, De Beers said.
De Beers has a budget for land-based exploration of about $35 million to explore
in Canada, Botswana and South Africa.
(Editing by Jason Neely)
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