De Beers In 99% Loss As Diamonds Lose Their Glitter

The diamond giant, which has a 50/50 partnership with Government in Debswana, made $316 million in the same period a year ago before the economic downturn deterred even the wealthy from splashing out on non-essentials.

De Beers blamed an "extraordinarily difficult" trading environment for the slump in profitability. Sales of rough diamonds by DTC (including joint ventures like DTC Botswana) were down by 57 percent to $1.4 billion with production slashed by 73 percent to 6.6million carats.