From De Beers to Petra, govt task team to ease SA’s diamond woes

South Africa’s diamond production has felt the impact of lab-grown diamonds firsthand. This year, Petra Diamonds placed its Finsch Diamond Mine under business rescue, and De Beers announced a two-year production pause at Venetia, the country’s largest diamond producer.

27 Oct 2026

A still image from a video shows coloured synthetic diamonds on display at De Beers’ International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research in Maidenhead. Image credit: Reuters/Reuters TV

As a result, Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe said his department has created a task team to help the country’s diamond producers address the challenges they face.

According to SABC News, Mantashe indicated, in a written parliamentary reply, that the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) and diamond producers would also serve on the task team.

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He added that lab-grown diamonds and global inflationary pressures are affecting major and junior producers, as well as small diamond miners, with small-scale miners hit the hardest.

In the August mining production data, diamonds saw the biggest drop, with production down 19.5% year-to-date.