Our business strategy is about growth and expansion in a responsible and sustainable manner. It requires us to deliver financial returns and address sustainability issues.

Delivering financial returns means increasing the demand for diamonds, finding new supplies of diamonds, and enhancing our value-added services including sorting and sales.

Addressing sustainability issues means enhancing our relationship with host and partner governments, building consumer confidence in diamonds, and ensuring our activities contribute positively to the livelihoods of both present and future generations.

Our understanding of sustainability is shaped by the societal imperatives of the countries where we work. This includes the vision of an ever more prosperous Africa. 

Detailed accounts of our management systems and performance in these areas are presented in the Operating and Financial Review 2009  and in our Report to Society 2009.

The financial review provides insight into our operational performance, future production opportunities and organisational change.

The report to society addresses sustainability issues relevant and material to our key stakeholders in the area of economics, ethics, employees, communities and environment.

It includes information from owned and managed business as well as our joint venture partnerships with government such as Debswana and Namdeb.

Together these reports detail our contribution to national development goals and sustainable development in the different countries in which we operate.

They account for how we are “living up to diamonds”.  

Economics

• Despite a 49% reduction in overall production during 2009, the Family of Companies was still able to pay US$3.4 billion (2008: US$6.2 billion) to stakeholders around the world including partners, joint ventures, suppliers, employees and shareholders
• A total of US$2.2 billion (64.4%) of this was paid to stakeholders in Africa (2008: 60%)
• Payments to partners, joint ventures and suppliers amounted to US$2.6 billion (2008: US$4.8 billion). About US$1.9 billion of this was paid for diamonds and services in Africa (2008: US$3.2 billion).

See our approach to economics >

Ethics

• All diamonds sold by De Beers are 100% conflict free. Compliance with the Kimberley Process and System of Warranties for 2009 was verified by Société Générale de Surveillance
• No significant incidents of corruption were identified during 2009 and no significant fines or non-monetary sanctions were imposed on the Family of Companies in relation to non-compliance with anti-corruption legislation and regulations.
• In February 2009, a new “SMART” approach to the BPP Assurance Programme was implemented to verify Family of Companies and Sightholder conformance with the BPPs and to improve the efficiency of the verification process.
• In 2009, we signed the CEO Letter on UN Convention against Corruption and subsequently began the process of communicating our new Anti-Corruption Policy across the Family of Companies.

See our approach to ethics >

Employees

• In 2009, and as a direct result of a significant drop in global diamond sales, the Family of Companies reduced its total workforce by 23%. This represents a total of 3,902 permanent and non-permanent employees.
• The Family of Companies achieved zero fatalities for the first time in 80 years, reflecting the implementation of numerous targeted safety measures. Our Lost Time Injury Severity Rate improved from 106.89 per 200,000 hours in 2008 to 6.52 in 2009.
• The DBCM Occupational Illness Frequency Rate fell significantly from 1.02 cases per million in 2008 to 0.44 cases per million in 2009. This was largely due to the ongoing progress of our hearing conservation programme.
• The Family of Companies continues to provide Anti-Retroviral Treatment to a total of 1,820 employees and family members in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
• While the majority of the staff retrenchments made in 2009 will be permanent, two key projects are likely to present exciting career opportunities in the short- to medium-term. In Botswana, the Jwaneng “Cut-8” mine expansion project is expected to employ in excess of 1,000 mine workers over its project lifecycle. In Canada, the ramp-up of our Snap Lake mine is expected to create 175 new positions by the time it reaches full production in 2012.

See our approach to employees >

Communities

• The Family of Companies disbursed a total of US$29.3 million in community social investment, including contractually mandated initiatives and in-kind contributions.
• This amounts to 9.2% of pre-tax profits of US$318 million and is significantly in excess of the international benchmark of 1%.
• A total of US$2.5 million has been allocated to Local Economic Development in 2009 under our Social and Labour Plans in South Africa.
• Social Impact Assessments were carried out in Botswana for the major Cut-8 expansion project at the Jwaneng mine, as well as the expansion of the Morupule coal mine.
• In July 2009, De Beers Canada signed an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) with both the Fort Albany and Kashechewan First Nations – bringing the total number of IBAs to seven. In 2009, a total of US$4.2 million was spent on a range of programmes under these IBAs
  
  See our approach to communities >

Environment

• The Family of Companies finalised six Environmental Standards covering lifecycle planning, biodiversity, water, climate change, pollution prevention and waste management, and environmental reporting. The standards apply to all our operations with full compliance required by the end of 2010.
• In 2009, we used 21.1 million m3 of new (potable and non-potable) water at our mining operations (2008: 37.2 million m3). This equates to a 44% reduction. Our use of reused and recycled water increased to 57% (2008: 45%) of our total water footprint.
• Energy consumption dropped to 7.8 million GJ (2008: 14.58 million GJ). This was mainly due to reduced production. Our direct and indirect consumption of energy per carat of production remained constant at 0.31 GJ per carat.
• Total carbon emissions fell to 1.16 million tonnes in 2009 (2008: 2.11 million tonnes) due to our reduced production. Carbon emissions per 1,000 carats of production increased from 43.93 tonnes in 2008 to 47.11 tonnes in 2009
  
  See our approach to environment >