De Beers rough diamond sight grows to $575m

Anglo American’s De Beers the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, sold $575 million worth of rough diamonds at the fifth sight of this year.

The value is a 6% increase from the $541m sight in the same period last year and 3.7% higher than the $554m sight last month.

De Beers has increased efforts in recent months to find a way to verify the source of diamonds and ensure they are not from conflict area where rough diamonds may have been used to finance violence.

Last month De beers announced it would start selling jewellery made with laboratory grown diamonds.