Anglo American “Committed” to Divesting De Beers but Mum on Date

By Karen Dybis | April 28, 2026

De Beers parent company Anglo American saw its rough diamond production rise over the past three months but the company gave no substantial sales update for De Beers in its first quarter 2026 results.

Rough diamond production increased by 17% to 7.1 million carats, driven by a planned ore release from Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine and higher volumes from Venetia Mine in Limpopo, South Africa, said Anglo American in its quarterly statement released early Tuesday morning.

In its guidance for the rest of 2026, the company, which owns 85% of De Beers, said its production prediction is unchanged at 21 million to 26 million carats. “De Beers continues to monitor rough diamond trading conditions in order to align output with prevailing demand,” the report said.

Anglo American, which announced its intent to sell De Beers in May 2024, had set an April 16 deadline for bids on De Beers. At least three potential bidders alongside Botswana are said to have put bids in.

“We are progressing the sales process for De Beers and continue to assess further cost and capital preservation measures to minimize the impact from challenging diamond markets,” Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said in the report.

The report also noted: “Anglo America is committed to divesting De Beers and we continue to progress a formal sale process and expect to provide an update through the course of 2026.”

In its trading performance results, Anglo American said rough diamond sales in the first quarter totaled 7.7 million carats (or 6.4 million carats on a consolidated basis) from two sights. This generated consolidated rough diamond sales revenue of $648 million.

Last year at this time, the company said its two sights in the first quarter of 2025 resulted in rough diamond sales of 4.7 million carats (4.2 million carats on a consolidated basis), generating $520 million of consolidated rough diamond sales revenue.

“Rough diamond trading conditions continued to be challenged due to ongoing industry, geopolitical, and tariff headwinds,” the report said.

“The consolidated average realized price declined by 19% to $101 per carat, primarily driven by a 17% decrease in the average rough price index (which is now reported including the impact of the stock rebalancing actions) as well as a sales mix with a higher proportion of lower value goods.”

Anglo American said a third sight started in March, but it was not complete by the quarter’s end. Full results from the third sight will be reported in Q2; Anglo American said it will release its second quarter 2026 production report on July 23.

For the months of January, February, and March, Anglo American reported:

• In Botswana, production increased by 5% to 4.8 million carats, as a result of higher recovered grade at Orapa. At Jwaneng, production was broadly consistent with the comparative period.

• Namibia’s production decreased by 12% to 0.6 million carats, due to scheduled maintenance on two vessels at Debmarine Namibia, along with the impact of decommissioning two vessels in 2025.

• In South Africa, production at Venetia increased by 53% reaching 0.7 million carats, largely as a result of processing higher volumes of underground ore.

• In Canada, production increased to 1 million carats, reflecting the planned ore release in Gahcho Kué from a new area of the mine.

In its 2025 annual report released in February, Anglo American posted a $3.7 billion loss because of another write-down in its diamond business. The company has taken three write-downs in two years, reducing De Beers’ carrying value to $2.3 billion. De Beers’ book value was $9.2 billion in 2023, prior to the initial write-down.

Top: Photo courtesy of De Beers