De Beers to Shutter South African Diamond Mine to Save Cash

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! Finance/Bloomberg

Mon, July 13, 2026 at 5:04 AM EDT


(Bloomberg) -- Diamond giant De Beers plans to halt production at its South African mine for two years, as the one-time monopoly continues to wrestle with one of the deepest crises to ever hit the industry.

The $80 billion industry is under severe strain. What started as a post-pandemic slump worsened amid a pullback in Chinese luxury spending and the rising popularity of synthetic stones. Trade tensions and war in the Middle East have piled on even more pain.

De Beers has sought to lower production to try and support prices, but a glut of stones from Angola and weak demand has undermined those efforts.

The company said Monday that it now intends to shutter its Venetia mine in South Africa for two years as part of ongoing cost-cutting plan. The decision won't impact its output goals as it would produce more stones elsewhere.

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/commodities/articles/beers-shutter-south-african-diamond-090448509.html

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Heard a blip on the radio in a business report last night and was like whoa.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Perhaps the closing of that mine will encourage the folks who make lab diamonds.

These are not fake or copy-cat stones. They are real diamonds, having been designated that way. They are exactly like the stones dug out of mines. I have a pair and they are truly lovely and boy do they sparkle!

[yardwork]

2. There's no reason to buy a mined diamond anymore.

[3Hotdogs]

3. Why does anyone want to buy jewelry? Is it to impress other people? And then there are people who spend money they

can't afford or go into debt to buy jewelry or cars to impress other people. As for me, If I like someone, I don't want or need to impress them. It was only people that I, deep down didn't like, that I felt I needed to impress.

After I figured that out, I stopped buying expensive cars, clothing or whatever. My car is a utilitarian Hyundai Elantra and it gets me from point A to point B just as good as any Beemer or Ferrari on the road.

[GenThePerservering]

4. Slight possibility that jewelry buyers

purchase it because they like it?

[3Hotdogs]

6. What's to like about 'em?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. In ancient times

and even today in some cultures, it's literally used as currency for financial transactions.

Hell, the "sell your gold (including jewelry) for cash" is a "thing", with roving "road shows".

[JoseBalow]

10. They're shiny, and

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. What I like about them: they decorate my face and they are beautiful in their own right. ...n/t

[SWBTATTReg]

8. I agree w/ your sentiment! It's like that 'look at me, look at all of my diamonds, look at my expensive car, look,

look, look! at what I have!'.

This materialistic society needs to disappear and realize what's really important in the 'real world'.

It's too bad that material objects are obsessing so many people.

[niyad]

24. Goddess forfend that we should find a moment of joy and beauty

in this "real world". And who defines that reality? Based on what criteria? When I was in high school, I heard reality defined as "an agreed-upon fiction". So what should those who do not agree to the fiction do?

[electric_blue68]

12. Because they're pretty, artistic, interestingly designed etc

I only have some with semi-precious stones or water pearls. Others are only metal, or with glass, wood, ceramics etc

Even on some rare occasion to impress people; basically it's because I enjoy the way they look.

And I make my own jewelry, too.

[niyad]

25. As do I. And for years, I worked with, and represented, jewelry makers

and other artists. I loved every minute of it.

[niyad]

23. Why? Because a piece is beautiful, or makes us happy, for starters.

The same reason many people buy, or create, other kinds of art, music, etc. What an iincredibly negative view of human endeavors your posts seem to indicate. How very, very sad.

[Bluetus]

13. Definitely the case

There is an episode from the original Mission: Impossible TV series where the team created a fake operation that supposedly held the key to manufacturing diamonds. I did not see that episode until about 5 years ago, when manufactured diamonds were commonplace, and about 1/3 the cost (and better quality) of mined stones.

There was a Twilight Zone episode where a gang of crooks stole a huge number of gold bars, and put themselves into suspended animation inside a cave for 100 years, thinking they would awake long after everybody had forgotten about the gold theft, and they would be filthy rich. The plot twist was that, in the meantime, a process had been invented to make unlimited supplies of gold cheap.

F Elon Musk, DeBeers, and all those Apartheid bastards. Let them go out of business.

[Liberty Belle]

21. I have a lab-grown diamond, too. It's beautiful. No need to every buy a new diamond.

I think older stones at an antique store are alright, as they've already been mined and sold before. But don't buy from any new diamonds from jewelry stores or other new diamond retailers. They're called blood diamonds for a reason--the horrific conditions for the miners and their families.

[WorseDayEver]

5. orher than use for grinding, why bother with diamonds

[Raftergirl]

7. Diamonds are not and never were rare. They just did a super amazing job of marketing.

I like jewelry. I also like diamonds. They are pretty. I inherited mine, they were my grandmother’s.

My engagement ring is a sapphire. Like Diana’s. Only smaller.

My husband just bid on a pair of tiny diamond studs at a silent auction for an organization that he sits on the board. They are smaller than my other studs, so good for every day, and I can sleep in them. His winning bid was half the retail price.

[mdbl]

15. Actually, the control of the distribution is what drove rarity and price

DeBeers has been controlling that market for decades.

[Raftergirl]

17. But not because diamonds are actually rare. De Beers limited the mining solely to be able to sell diamonds as

an expensive luxury item, desired by women around the world. Marketing genius.

There are many gemstones that are actually rare and they command extraordinary prices.

[eppur_se_muova]

22. Bingo ! When the mines in Kimberly were first being worked, even working-class couples were buying huge diamond

wedding rings, because the stones were so abundant that prices kept falling. Smuggling of diamonds in pockets, mouths, and body cavities brought the prices even lower, since the smugglers were often poor laborers desperate for a quick sale. Rhodes and his allies, incorporated as DeBeers, bought every mining concession they could (each being only a few feet wide) until they controlled the majority of the market, then began to squeeze everyone else out, so that profit margins were pushed higher and higher.

Early stage of mining in Kimberly. Each claimant measured out a square or rectangular plot and began digging straight down, from one edge to the opposite. Faster diggers quickly made deeper holes -- and anything that tumbled down into them from one of the slower diggers became their property.


A later stage of mining in "The Big Hole". Each rope corresponds to a claim -- buckets were hauled up the ropes from the ever-lower dig sites to screening stations above ground.


Today, "The Big Hole" is abandoned and partially filled with water. It is believed to be the deepest hole ever dug by hand.

Described in considerable detail in Rhodes' bio: https://archive.org/details/foundercecilrhod0000rotb_p0z9/mode/2up

[Envirogal]

11. My husband and I don't have rings.

It’s a scam to make men feel guilty and girls to expect too much based an exploitative and corrupt industry. Water should be valued over diamonds and yet, we have a
Warped view of value. Besides, wearing a ring is a pain, gross on you hands, etc..

A ring means nothing but marketing. Had one for my first marriage and it lasted less than two year. The “no ring” relationship has been going strong for decades.

Manufactured is the way to go if you must have one
And the technology has improved greatly since the days of cubic zirconium.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. Rings are symbols. But if you don't like them, then don't wear them.

My then-fiance and I did like the idea of a lost-wax ring, and that's what we got for me. It was made by a local artisan who was probably a student at the local college.

See?



I'm still wearing it and we've been married for 61 years.

[FakeNoose]

18. It's beautiful and authentic artwork

I hope it's comfortable to wear, it looks like it would be.....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Thanks so much, my dear FakeNoose!

I appreciate your kindness. And it is very comfortable to wear.

[niyad]

26. Rings are not the only kinds of jewelry out there.

[WorseDayEver]

20. "To save cash" as if it didn't have EXCESSIVE funds just sitting in numbers accounts... what a crock