De Beers must learn to thrive in uncertainty – new CEO

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Diamond miner and marketer De Beers must learn to thrive in uncertainty, says new CEO Bruce Cleaver, who took over the reins from outgoing CEO Philippe Mellier on July 1.

In a blog on the De Beers website, Cleaver writes that the future of the diamond sector presents both known and unknown challenges and emphasises the need for openness, learning from others and willingness to change.

The former investment banker and lawyer, who has an applied mathematics degree from the University of Cape Town, says that the company’s success is predicated on every individual part of the diamond pipeline succeeding, which will require a braver approach from all partners in broadening horizons and accepting that solutions to the sector’s supply chain efficiencies and marketing strategies may lie outside of the sector itself.

He adds that it would be folly to assume that the drivers of past demand will be the same drivers of future demand and reiterates Mellier’s guiding principle of the consumer being De Beers only source of value.

He cautions on the likelihood of uncertainty persisting and volatility becoming the new normal, even in the face of De Beers making all the right investment decisions, and urges unrelenting entrenchment - in established, developing and emerging markets - of the consumer’s pre-eminent value position.

“We must learn to thrive in uncertainty,” writes Cleaver, 51, who rose rapidly up the De Beers ranks, advancing from commercial director in 2007 to co-acting CEO in 2010 and strategy, business development, corporate affairs and technologies head in 2011.

He identifies partnerships with consumers, rough diamond customers, governments, communities and retailers as the cornerstones that will define the Anglo American company’s future.

BUYER OF USED DIAMONDS

Already new from De Beers is its decision to launch a venture that buys used diamonds in order to give more options to those needing to sell their diamonds for cash.

The Financial Times of London quotes De Beers senior VP strategic initiatives Tom Montgomery as disclosing the extent to which unfair prices being paid for second-hand diamonds are eroding consumer trust.

In a test of the market, Montgomery experienced prices of $250 being offered for diamonds worth $2 000, with some dealers not even examining the gems.

“A quarter of the time I was offered zero,” Montgomery is quoted as saying in the article in which RBC Capital Markets diamond analyst Des Kilalea comments on the price-transparent second-hand diamond programme helping the price of polished diamonds.

The resale initiative — in which used diamond owners can sell through a De Beers partner or online — follows an 18-month pilot scheme involving 14 US jewellers.