De Beers Group has unveiled a new five-year initiative aimed at driving sustainable growth and revitalising desire for natural diamonds amid slow market recovery.

According to De Beers, the comprehensive strategy, aptly named Origins, is envisioned to “enhance value across its business from mining to retail” by streamlining the business, focusing its investment on core upstream asset projects with high returns, integrating mid-stream technologies, and improving natural diamond retail and synthetic diamond technology solutions.

The new strategy came on the heels of Anglo American’s announcement that it will divest or demerge De Beers.

Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, highlighted the compelling outlook for natural diamonds amid declining global supply, noting that consumers in key regions are becoming more affluent and are increasingly differentiating between natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds. 

“We are reinventing every part of De Beers to grow value,” said Cook. “Every part of De Beers must add value in itself. But it is our integration from the upstream to the downstream, from the south of Africa to the north of Canada, across our portfolio of technologies, that makes De Beers unique. And it is through that integration that we will create value as brilliant as our diamonds.”

The five-year strategy involves the following key components:

Business streamlining
De Beers Group is delivering over US$100 million in sustainable annual cost savings through reorganisation efforts and focused capital spending. One-off cost savings will also be delivered through the disposal of non-diamond assets, deferments of non-core projects and the disposal of non-strategic equity holdings.

Focused upstream
De Beers will focus its upstream investments on major projects that will deliver the highest returns, including the ramp-up of Venetia Underground in South Africa and progression of Jwaneng Underground in Botswana, while exploring future projects in Namibia and Canada based on industry dynamics. Exploration expenditure will be refocused on Angola, which represents the most prospective region in the world.

Integrate midstream
De Beers plans to revolutionise the midstream segment through its digital portfolio, aiming to enhancing efficiency, reducing working capital, and lowering rough diamond inventory levels. De Beers’ Tracr technology will be at the core of this initiative, offering information required for new diamond import rules within G7 countries, and enhanced consumer confidence through connecting diamonds to their source.

Reset downstream
De Beers will rejuvenate demand for natural diamonds among a new generation of consumers by implementing fresh marketing strategies. Collaborations with retailers will be key to this new approach. De Beers will progress strategic relationships with leading retailers such as Signet Jewelers in the US and Chow Tai Fook in China.

Additionally, De Beers will evolve its proprietary retail brands, scaling up its global luxury De Beers Jewellers brand while refocusing Forevermark on the fast-growing Indian market.

Another highlight is the launch of a new retail-facing diamond verification instrument, DiamondProof, which introduces the company’s leading lab-grown diamond detection technology to the retail counter for the first time.

Pivot synthetics
De Beers Group’s Element Six, meanwhile, will suspend production of lab-grown diamonds for jewellery and focus on its position as a world-leading provider of synthetic diamond technology solutions for industrial applications.