De Beers was established in 1888 and is the world’s leading diamond company with unrivalled expertise in exploration, mining and marketing of rough diamonds.

Approximately 45% of the world’s rough diamond production (made up from diamonds from De Beers mines and those which De Beers purchases from Alrosa, the Russian state diamond mining company) are sorted and valued by the Diamond Trading Company, the sales and marketing arm of De Beers, headquartered in London.

 De Beers and its partner companies employ more than 21,000 people in 25 countries on five continents.  17,000 of these are based in the southern African operations.  De Beers has 15 mines across Africa and new mines are currently being built in Canada. The company has over a century of expertise in every form of mining (open pit, underground, alluvial, coastal and marine mining) as well as world-class skills in the sorting, valuing and marketing of diamonds.

 In 2005 the De Beers Group generated US$6.5 billion in revenue and US$554 million in net earnings. 

 De Beers is committed to southern Africa and making a lasting contribution to the people of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania.  The company supports and encourages sustainable working to ensure long term positive outcomes for Africa and spends more than US$10 million per year on more than 600 Corporate Social Investment (CSI) activities globally.

 The changing face of De Beers

In 2005, De Beers announced a groundbreaking Black Economic Empowerment deal with Ponahalo Investment which saw the sale of 26% of the equity of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) to Ponahalo. The shareholders in Ponahalo represent the broadest possible cross-section of South African society.  This sale is heralded to be a clear demonstration of De Beers becoming a company that truly reflects the non-racial ideals of the government and citizens of South Africa. 

De Beers Group structure

De Beers Group is a privately owned company with three shareholders:

Anglo American plc owns 45%

Central Holdings Group owns 40%

The Government of Botswana owns 15%.

In recent years, De Beers has undergone a dramatic transformation to meet the challenges and opportunities for its business in the 21st century.

Management team:

De Beers Group 

Chairman - Nicky Oppenheimer

Managing Director (Group) - Gareth Penny

Managing Director (DBCM) - David Noko

Managing Director (DTC) - Varda Shine