De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier says he is fully confident that parent company Anglo American has no plans to sell the veteran diamond producer.
Referring to Rio Tinto’s announcement to retain its diamond assets after an internal review that last more than a year and media speculation regarding potential buyers, Mellier told a media briefing in Tel Aviv that De Beers was “not in this type of context“.
He said the diamond industry was regarded as important by Anglo American. “From day one, the new Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani has said that diamonds remains a core business of the company.”
Accompanied by Executive Vice President of De Beers Global Sightholder Sales, Varda Shine, he added that a new company chairman is due to be selected at a board meeting in July.
Mellier and Shine led a delegation to Israel which included Mahiar Borhanjoo, the DTC’s Executive Director of Sales and Client Services, and representatives of DTC Botswana and DTC Namibia. Shine said it was important for the representatives from Southern Africa to get an understanding of the nature of the global business. And Israel could provide lessons in technology via a visit to Sarin Technologies.
Following meetings with sightholders, Mellier said that he had identified a state of mind and that the JCK Show Las Vegas had been better than the 2012 event. In addition, there were reports, though patchy and incomplete, that the Hong Kong show this week had also been positive. He added that this year has begun better than 2012.
Speaking on the topic of synthetic diamonds, Mellier revealed that De Beers is completing work on an automatic screening machine for melee diamonds. He explained that bigger diamonds are naturally screened due to their high value, but smaller synthetic diamonds could more easily enter the natural diamond market.
Asked about the vacuum created by De Beers’ decision to stop generic marketing of diamonds, Mellier said the company would be happy to be part of a global generic promotion campaign. However, despite his calls for the industry to come together to create such a push, other players had not shown a great deal of interest in doing so, but were naturally more than happy for De Beers to pay for it.
He said this tied in with the fact that De Beers was no longer the “custodian” of the diamond industry. “We are by value the biggest seller of rough diamonds with more than one-third of global production but we are no longer the overwhelming force.”
With the company due to publish its financial results next month for the first half of this year, including production figures, Mellier said he could not comment on specific financial figures but that production in 2013 was expected to be similar to that of 2012.
Speaking on the company’s Forevermark brand, he said it is being sold in 1,000 outlets across the world, including 350 in the United States
Meanwhile, Shine said the company was also focusing on the transfer of its operations to Botswana, with it expected to be completed in September to October. The first sight is due to take place in Gaborone in November.
Author Albert Robinson
