JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Belief that a new chapter can be created for the natural diamond business has been expressed by former De Beers CEO and current Global Diamond Consortium chairperson Gareth Penny.

Penny was responding to reference by Botswana President Duma Boko to his country's partnership with the consortium to acquire De Beers.

Commenting on the statement made by Boko during his state of the nation address, Penny said: “We welcome President Boko’s comments regarding partnering with the Global Diamond Consortium to acquire Anglo American’s 85% interest in De Beers.

“We thank the governments of Botswana, Angola, Namibia and Oman, for their support and partnership as we work together towards becoming co-owners of De Beers.

“Botswana's support represents a significant endorsement of our vision for the industry’s future, and we would like to extend our thanks to President Boko for the pivotal role he has played.

“Together, we believe we can create a new chapter for this iconic business, one defined by strategic clarity between producing countries and the wider value chain, stronger consumer connection, and sustained growth in demand for natural diamonds.

“We remain focused now on finalising agreements with Anglo American as soon as possible,” Penny added in the consortium’s release to Mining Weekly.

Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad last month commented that his company was continuing to work towards a De Beers transaction "in a challenging market", having taken decisive action to protect cash and preserve value.

Earlier this year, De Beers paused diamond production for two years at the Venetia mine in South Africa's Limpopo province.

Interestingly, second-quarter rough diamond production increased to 7.8-million carats, taking the company's output for the first half of this year to 14.91-million carats – a 46% year-on-year increase.

The higher second-quarter production reflected the impact of the extended maintenance shutdown at the Orapa diamond mine in Botswana in the second quarter of 2025, as well as the planned mining of higher grade at the Jwaneng diamond mine, also in Botswana.

Full-year production of between 21-million and 26-million carats was guided taking into account the impact of planned plant maintenance at Orapa and Jwaneng and the proposed production pause at Venetia.