Anglo boss admits diamond industry misread lab-grown threat

ANGLO American CEO Duncan Wanblad acknowledged De Beers and the wider diamond industry underestimated the disruption caused by laboratory-grown gems, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.While some blame weak marketing for the shift towards cheaper synthetic diamonds, retailers have benefited from rising volumes and stronger margins on lab-grown stones, the newspaper said.“Hindsight would probably show that we might have wanted to have been a little bit more aggressive on the signals we were getting,” Wanblad told the FT. Diamond markets typically rebound quickly from downturns and expectations had been set accordingly, he added.Anglo is attempting to sell its 85% stake in De Beers as part of a broad restructuring ahead of a merger with Teck Resources, a Canadian firm.Anglo reported a 32% drop in rough diamond prices to $105 a carat in the first half, below even 2020 pandemic levels, with De Beers posting a $113m cash loss. Group underlying earnings nonetheless rose a third to $4bn on stronger copper prices.Wanblad said roughly a fifth of natural diamond supply would exit the market within a year, with few operations returning. De Beers has already paused output at its Venetia mine in South Africa and shut its own synthetic-diamond unit, Lightbox.Anglo said the De Beers sale process was advancing, with no preferred bidder yet chosen, though a consortium led by former De Beers boss Gareth Penny has been linked to a roughly $1bn deal.The post Anglo boss admits diamond industry misread lab-grown threat appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com