Anglo American, De Beers’ parent company, announced a fall in revenue and profits for the first half of 2022, a fall driven by “Covid-related absenteeism, disrupted supply chains, weather extremes and economic volatility,” IDEX Online reports.
Anglo faced “considerable challenges” across “most of its operations, including copper, platinum, nickel and iron ore” as pre-tax profits fell 33% to $6.80 billion and revenue was down 17% to $18.11 billion.
One silver lining was diamond mining as De Beers’ rough diamond production increased 10% “to 16.9 million carats (30 June 2021: 15.4 million carats),” Anglo said, “reflecting a strong operational performance and higher planned levels of production to meet continued strong demand for rough diamonds, while the first quarter of 2021 was affected by particularly high rainfall in southern Africa.”
