Namdeb Plans to Stop Production for 3 Months

Namdeb, the diamond mining joint venture of De Beers and the Namibian government, will halt diamond production for three months as demand for rough diamonds dwindle. Namdeb had no sales in January or February the company said. It is currently unclear when work will be stopped.

Namdeb’s Group Manager of External Affairs & Corporate Communications Hilifa Mbako told The Namibian the company’s cash flow was “unfavorable.”

“Namdeb continues to assess its position in light of the need to align production to DTC clients’ demand for newly mined rough diamonds,” De Beers’ Manager: Media Relations Lynette Gould told IDEX Online.

Namdeb will suspend production at its land operations for three months. This will happen when the necessary legislative and consultation processes are fully complied with. According to De Beers, this is expected in the next few weeks.

The company started to cut production in December, when mining was scaled down to a single shift a day from the regular double shifts.

In December, Namdeb and De Beers Marine Namibia scaled back marine production. Mining ships were brought back to port where they were expected to be moored from mid December until early January. Currently three of the five production vessels and one of the sampling vessels are being mobilized to return to the mining area.

Two production vessels and the sampling vessel have already commenced work in the mining area, whilst the third production vessel is in port undergoing class and essential maintenance work prior to returning to the mining area later this month.

At the time, Namdeb and De Beers Marine Namibia said staff retrenchments are inevitable. According to Gould, the company has received many voluntary separation and early retirement applications which have avoided the necessity for further retrenchments.

“Essential services of a health, safety, environment and education nature will continue, as will the maintenance work in the sea-walls and other mining infrastructure.”