Penny Announces De Beers Record Output

A day ahead of the formal announcement of their preliminary results, Gareth Penny, De Beers group new managing director told a mining conference in Cape Town that rough output increased to nearly 49 million carats in 2005.

"This last year we will have mined with our joint venture partners close to 49 million carats. It will be a record production year for the De Beers group," said Penny. He also told the conference that the company expect diamond sales to increase by at least 10 percent over the next five years, reports Reuters.   

De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by miner Anglo American, produced 47 million carats in 2004.