De Beers says employees will be supported as production at Limpopo mine halted for 2 years
· Citizen
De Beers has announced a two-year production pause at its Venetia mine in Limpopo as it moves to cut costs and navigate the prolonged downturn in the global diamond market.
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While the company has not said whether jobs will be affected, it has confirmed that employees impacted by the decision will be supported as it consults with stakeholders and presses ahead with plans to strengthen the mine for future production.
De Beers is one of the world’s largest diamond producers, with mining operations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada. The company’s Venetia mine is South Africa’s largest diamond mine.
De Beers embarks on organisational changes
The world’s leading diamond company on Monday said it is advancing the delivery of its business streamlining by outlining a number of planned portfolio and organisational changes to ensure an efficient cost base that strengthens resilience in the near term while enhancing future competitiveness and retaining optionality as industry conditions improve.
“In line with our commitment to focus and streamline our business, we are making a number of changes to De Beers to ensure greater business resilience in the near-term, while supporting long-term value creation,” said Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group.
“We recognise the protracted challenging conditions as the diamond industry evolves, though we are encouraged by signs of consumer demand growth in the US and beyond, particularly in higher quality diamonds.
“Global rough diamond supply is falling, bringing more support to the market. The changes we are making to our business are focused on underpinning our efficiency now and into the future, favourably positioning De Beers in its leadership role.”
De Beers removes overhead costs
The company highlighted that it has been restructuring its business to cut costs, sell off businesses outside its core operations, and focus its investment on the areas that generate the most value. This strategy has removed more than $100 million of annual overhead costs since 2024.
“Significant progress has been made, with more than $100 million of annual overhead costs removed from the business, the sale or closure of a number of non-core assets and significant capital and cost reconfigurations to asset expansion projects,” said De Beers.
Removing overhead costs includes eliminating the ongoing, indirect expenses required to run a business, such as rent, utilities and administrative salaries, that are not directly tied to creating a specific product or service.
Simultaneously, the mining giant has reinvested in marketing in the natural diamond category to support the industry’s efforts to grow natural diamond demand, launching new large-scale campaigns and collaborating with key stakeholders across the value chain to foster industry-wide investment.
Diamond demand and production
De Beers noted that global consumer demand for natural diamond jewellery returned to growth in 2025, while natural diamond sales increased across US independent jewellers in 2025 and into the first quarter of 2026, led by higher-value diamonds and those promoted by De Beers’ Desert Diamonds marketing campaign.
However, the company added that global rough diamond production is now decreasing, with several producers closing mines in 2026.
“Whilst the increasing rarity of diamonds and the emerging signs of improvement in consumer demand are likely to support longer-term value creation, rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term due to cyclical and industry-specific factors,” said De Beers.
Production halted in the largest diamond mine
Due to the outlook of rough diamond trading conditions, the mining giant said it will halt production at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years to reduce costs while also rephasing capital expenditure on its underground project.
“This will involve critical infrastructure investment to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the mine, with the intention to support future production growth as business and industry conditions improve.
“De Beers is engaging with stakeholders in accordance with relevant requirements and the company’s values as it moves through this process, and will both support impacted employees and continue to invest in its community and social and labour plan commitments.”
Another mine down
De Beers noted that the decision to pause production at the largest diamond mine in the country comes after production at the Gahcho Kué mine in Canada was also halted earlier this year.
At the same time, De Beers plans to reconfigure its global operating model to refocus and prioritise resources on the core operational businesses and reduce its central corporate cost base.
“De Beers Group will maintain current production levels through its other operations and previous production guidance remains unchanged.”