Diamond production by the leading Namibian company Namdeb dropped by around 150,000 carats while net profit dipped by N$ 83 million, the company revealed on Tuesday. Announcing its financial results, Namdeb’s financial manager Andrew Schanknecht said Namdeb produced around 1,750,000 carats last year, down from around 1,900,000 carats in 2004. Namdeb, which is a 50:50 joint venture between the Namibian government and diamond giant De Beers said the net profit dropped to N$122 million Namibian dollars, down from N$205 million in 2004. Schanknecht added that diamond sales decreased by 8%. " However, diamond prices rose by 9% last year and revenue earned from sales came to 3.99 billion Namibian dollars, slightly higher than 3,96 billion dollars in 2004," Schanknecht said at a media briefing.

Diamond which were mined in 2005 were smaller in size by 17% from 0.53 carats down to 0.44 carats per stone," Schanknecht said. Namdeb recovered more offshore diamonds from the Atlantic Ocean - 894,000 carats - than from its land operation, where 818,000 carats were mined. Net dividends to shareholders amounted N$167 million, down from N$312 million in 2004, Namdeb’s financial results showed. For 2006, Namdeb warned its revenue would be even less: "Namdeb is forecasting lower distributable profits for 2006 and is unlikely to be in a position to pay any dividend to its shareholders", the company said. This was due to substantial capital expenditure this year of some N$900 million, said Inge Zaamwani, Namdeb’s managing director.

Namdeb plans to mine 10 million carats over the next 5 years until 2010, Zaamwani added. The diamond mining licences of Namdeb expire in 2020.

Inge Zaamwani, MD of Namdeb