JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diamond producer De Beers on Friday reported steady sales and increased output as signs of a possible market recovery emerged with diamond prices edging up.

De Beers produced 14.3-million carats during the six months to June 2013 – almost one-million carats more than the 13.4-million carats delivered in the corresponding six-month period the year before.

The improved performance was attributed to better ore grades at Botswana subsidiary Debswana’s oldest operational diamond mine Opara, located about 240 km west of Francistown, and the world’s “richest” diamond mine in terms of value, Jwaneng, south-west of Gaborone.

De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier, in a conference call to journalists, said that with the impacts of a slope failure at Jwaneng and the January flooding of South Africa-based Venetia mine being cleared up, full-year production was expected to be in line with the nearly 28-million carats of diamonds produced during 2012.

Remediation of Jwaneng’s slope failure, which occurred a year ago, was expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2013, while the Venetia mine, in Limpopo, would be restored during the second half of this year.

Both the Namdeb and Debmarine operations, in Namibia, increased output, while the optimisation of the Snap Lake mine, in Canada, continued.

Meanwhile, encouraging signs of stability and moderate growth in diamond consumer markets in the US and China had emerged during the first half of this year, Mellier said.

After a 12% decline in De Beers’ rough diamond prices during the second half of last year, prices rose 6% and the company maintained total sales of $3.3-billion during the six months under review, with rough diamonds accounting for $3-billion.

The realised average price to June was 2% higher than the prior corresponding period on the back of an “improved product mix offsetting the lower price index”, Mellier stated.

Element Six, which recorded slightly improved sales after a stronger second quarter, contributed about $300-million in sales.

“Polished prices edged up on the back of moderate retailer re-stocking, but high cutting centre stock, tight midstream liquidity and a weakening rupee continued to create challenges for the rough market.”

Mellier remained “cautiously optimistic”, as the US market showed encouraging growth, and he believed that growth during 2013 would register at levels slightly higher than recorded last year.

Growth in China, albeit “somewhat patchy”, continued at a slower pace, while conditions in India and Japan remained more uncertain.