De Beers aims for carbon-neutral mining in five years

The rough producer is investigating ways to accelerate the naturally occurring process by which kimberlite reacts with carbon to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it said last week.

This reaction, known as natural mineral carbonation, occurs faster in kimberlite than it does in most rocks. However, the natural process is still too slow to offset man-made carbon emissions to any significant degree. De Beers is trying to speed up the carbonation using technology so it can succeed in balancing out its mines’ carbon emissions.