Nosiphiwo Mzamo: South Africa’s State Diamond Trader to buy diamonds from other African countries

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) is set to buy diamonds from other African countries starting with Botswana. SDT’s chief executive Nosiphiwo Mzamo told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa at the country’s inaugural diamond show, which...

10 february 2025

Edahn Golan: Halo effect from lab-grown diamonds driving high demand for large, 2-carat natural stones in the U.S.

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that their research found a halo effect from lab-grown diamonds. He said the trend among lab-grown diamond...

27 january 2025

Paul Zimnisky: We will see a modest recovery in natural diamond demand and prices in 2025

According to Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond and jewellery analyst and consultant based in the New York metro area, the natural diamond industry will see a modest recovery in demand and prices this year. Zimnisky said a moderate recovery would...

13 january 2025

African Diamond Council makes traceability its top priority, wants KP to embrace Authentia.io

The African Diamond Council (ADC) has made traceability its foremost priority and has been contributing to a traceability solution called Authentia.io for the last three and a half years, which is now ready to globally satisfy the traceability...

16 december 2024

Gaetano Cavalieri: CIBJO leading the jewelry industry on critical issues

One of the gem and jewellery industry’s most well-known and respected personalities, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, has been the president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), for the past 23 years. CIBJO is the oldest international organisation...

09 december 2024

Anglo to cut annual run rate costs, capital spend over the next three years

23 february 2024

Anglo American is set to cut its annual run rate costs by $1 billion and capital spend by $1.6 billion over the next three years, while also cutting out unprofitable volumes. 

This follows high inflation on the group’s costs, coupled with a cyclical downturn in PGMs and diamonds. “We are systematically reviewing our assets and will take further actions as needed to ensure their competitiveness,” said Anglo chief executive Duncan Wanblad.

“We have also … set out the difficult but necessary reconfigurations of our PGMs and Kumba operations to set them up on a far more sustainable footing, building on the recent 25% cost reduction from our consolidation of senior head office roles.”

He said its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $10.0 billion at a 39% mining EBITDA margin shows a 13% lower product basket price and a 4%-unit cost increase, partially offset by their 2% volume growth. 

Anglo’s net debt rose to $10.6 billion due to the growth in investments the group had been making through the cycle in line with its belief in strong long-term fundamentals. 

“Our updated assessment of global GDP growth and consumer demand were the main factors behind the $1.6 billion write-down of our book value of De Beers, principally relating to goodwill,” said Wanblad.

“There is no doubt that while the immediate macro picture presents some challenges for our PGMs and diamonds businesses, the demand trends for metals and minerals have rarely looked better.”

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished