At the Dubai Diamond Conference (DMCC) on 21 February 2022, De Beers Group Chairman and CEO Bruce Cleaver spoke about his projections for the future of natural diamonds.
This fifth edition of the Dubai Diamond Conference focused on the future of diamonds throughout the day. Bruce Cleaver and Sergey Ivanov, CEO of ALROSA, were invited to discuss the question : “Why have diamonds done so well during the Covid-19 ?” As a reminder, De Beers Group and Russia’s ALROSA are one of the world’s leading diamond operators.
Bruce Cleaver believes that the supply of natural diamonds will remain stable over the next few decades, and that the sector is likely to experience decent growth in the medium to long term.
“I see no reason to believe that the diamond industry will not experience decent growth in the medium to long term. I am more optimistic about the future than I have been in a long time,” says Bruce Cleaver. He adds that “Supply will remain stable. It won’t fall off a cliff. We see 20, 30, 40 years of stable supply.”
From the end of 2020 onwards, demand for diamonds has increased, leading to higher prices for polished products and higher prices for rough diamonds. Indeed, De Beers’ sales reached $4.82 billion in 2021, up from $2.79 billion in 2020.
Bruce Cleaver said he remains focused on diamond exploration. Indeed, De Beers is already exploring two continents and four countries, Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. De Beers is now exploring the seabed off Greenland, with the aim of examining whether it may contain highly prized marine diamond deposits.
“It’s far too early to say whether it will work or not,” B. Cleaver revealed of the Greenland explorations. Cleaver revealed about the Greenland explorations.
In the future De Beers aims to invest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, without giving exact figures.
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