Debswana is a 50-50 joint partnership between the Botswana government and De Beers, with the latter now 85 percent owned by global mining house, Anglo American. While Debswana lost output in the third quarter due to a slope failure at Jwaneng, the company ramped up production by 26 percent in the fourth quarter to 5.5 million carats from 4.3 million carats. Debswana had produced 4.9 million carats and 5.3 million in the first and second quarter of the year respectively.
The resumption and subsequent ramping up of production at Jwaneng Mine lifted the output of global mining giant, De Beers in the fourth quarter of 2012 by 24 percent. However on an annual basis, De Beers' production fell by 11 percent to 27.8 million carats in 2012. The Jwaneng Mine traditionally supplies about 70 percent to Debswana's production. Debswana contributes the same percentage to parent company, De Beers' output. In the production statement, Anglo said that De Beers' operations continued to focus on waste stripping and maintenance activities initiated in the fourth quarter of 2011, in response to softer global demand for diamonds throughout the year. Anglo American reported that production from De Beers Consolidated Mines in South Africa increased by 69 percent year-on-year to 1.547 million carats during the fourth quarter. "This helped to address shortfalls following the Jwaneng suspension," said Anglo.
