By Frank Auger

De Beers Group welcomes the World Federation of Diamond Bourses Young Diamantaires to its Venetia Diamond Mine in Limpopo

Ever since the first diamond was discovered in South Africa in 1867, this precious stone has had a significant impact on the country – socially, politically and economically. As leaders of the diamond mining industry in southern Africa, De Beers Group, through its Building Forever Strategy, has built a positive and lasting legacy that will endure long after the company has recovered its last diamond.

Just as a diamond is forever, we want the good work that we do to stand the test of time, positively impacting people and the environment for generations to come. Indeed, Building Forever reflects our determination to live the values embodied in a diamond – strength, commitment, trust, permanence and to ensure that the provenance, purity and authenticity of our products reinforce those values for our stakeholders.

The iconic tagline ‘A Diamond is Forever’ helped launch a historic marketing campaign for our company, celebrating enduring love. Today ‘forever’ promises so much more – a future that’s safer, fairer, cleaner and healthier for everyone. Step by step, we are helping to create this future, aligning our vision with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to accelerate our impact and challenging ourselves to do more through the 2030 goals.

We are also forming new partnerships and using existing ones to enhance our ability to influence economic, social and environmental factors. It is for this reason we were honoured to host the Young Diamantaires Group of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses at our Venetia Diamond Mine in Limpopo at the beginning of September.

The Young Diamantaires are an informal group of 250 individuals in the diamond and jewellery industry, founded by Rami Baron together with WFDB President, Ernie Blom. The purpose of the Young Diamantaires initiative is to stimulate a worldwide conversation with young diamantaires under the age of 45 on how to positively influence the diamond industry.

All too often, a negative narrative is perpetuated about diamonds and how they are sourced. The Young Diamantaires aim to change the narrative and use social media to promote the good that diamonds do in the countries and communities where they are produced.

De Beers Group facilitated the tour to showcase what a responsible, ethical and 21st century diamond mine looks like, as well as how the company is helping communities to access opportunities and thrive. The 25 visitors were made up of a diverse group from 8 different countries; Australia, Belgium, Germany, Israel, India, Singapore, South Africa and the UK.

A highlight from the trip was the visit to the Renaissance Secondary School in Musina, one of 19 schools that De Beers Group has helped to build in the labour sending areas of Musina and Blouberg through its School Infrastructure Development Programme with the Department of Education. The principal of the school, Mr Mashudu Sithole told the Young Diamantaires: “We used to have 70 pupils per classroom, but through assistance from De Beers Group, class numbers have become more manageable”.

At the Venetia Diamond Mine, the visitors were given a tour of both the Open Pit and Underground Operations. The Venetia Underground project remains the largest investment spend for both De Beers Group and Anglo American in South Africa. The project is entering its sixth year of development and is on track to deliver its first diamonds in 2021. Once completed, it will extend the life of mine to 2046, making sure that we continue to deliver positive change to our communities.

The Young Diamantaires also took the opportunity to meet with a number of small business owners from local communities of Blouberg and Musina that are supported by De Beers Zimele – they were also joined by members of the De Beers Enterprise Development Project for Diamond Beneficiators.

Zimele, which means “stand on one’s own feet” was introduced to the local communities to bring about sustainable economic empowerment through the creation and support of small and medium sized enterprises.

The Enterprise Development Project for Diamond Beneficiators aims to develop entrepreneurs that can build sustainable businesses in the downstream industry.

Whilst enjoying the splendour of the African bush, all parties were able to share their stories on growing their businesses from humble beginnings, and how diamonds have contributed towards their success.

Founder of the Young Diamantaires, Rami Baron, summed up the visit by saying: “I can’t wait to share the truth of how much good the diamond industry brings to communities in Africa today, and how De Beers is playing an even more important role than we previously ever knew”.

In so much that we now have 25 new ambassadors for De Beers Group and South Africa, this is only the first of many visits to come, where we will continue to showcase that each diamond we sell means just as much to the community in which it was found as it does to its ultimate owner.