Diamond company De Beers had sold diamonds to South Africa's new State Diamond Trader, De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer confirmed on Tuesday.

"We have sold them some diamonds, yes," Oppenheimer told Mining Weekly Online.

The State Diamond Trader had the right, he confirmed, to buy 10% of the run-of-mine diamonds produced in South Africa.

The State Diamond Trader was then meant to on sell those to emerging entrepreneurs in the diamond cutting and polishing and diamond jewellery businesses.

"From our perspective, we very much hope that the State Diamond Trader becomes a very successful operation and is able to help smaller people in South Africa to get into the diamond-cutting business," Oppenheimer said.

Mining Weekly Online reported earlier this year that the State Diamond Trader would be procuring funding from the Industrial Development Corporation and that it had completed a pilot project aimed at determining the viability of its business model, its diamond mix and the prices at which it would on sell diamonds.

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