Diamond mining giant De Beers has released its sixth annual Report to Society.

The full report – Living up to Diamonds - and a Summary Review are available for download from www.debeersgroup.com.

In his introduction, De Beers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer says “The success of our business, and its future growth, depends on our ability to create shared value with our producer partners, our local communities, our employees and our consumers.”



Highlights of the report include:

With a 34% increase in overall production, the Family of Companies was able to increase payments to stakeholders around the world to $5 billion (2009: $3.4 billion);

$1.12 billion in rough diamonds was supplied to Sightholders for manufacture in southern Africa (2009: $579 million);

The Family of Companies disbursed a total of $29.8 million in community social investment, including contractually mandated initiatives and in-kind contributions. This amounts to 3.3% of pre-tax profits of $894 million and is significantly in excess of the international benchmark of 1%;

De Beers' use of reused and recycled water at our southern African mines remained constant at 50% of its total freshwater footprint. In 2010 the diamond company used 38.09 million m³ of new (potable and non-potable) water across all its operations. This represents a 63% year on year increase, mainly due to a 34% increase in production in 2010, following the global financial crisis in 2009.