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Angola’s Endiama and Sodiam Join Natural Diamond Council with $8M Pledge to Boost Global Campaign

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Angola’s state-owned diamond giants, ENDIAMA E.P. and SODIAM E.P., have officially announced their joint membership in the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), effective July 1, 2025. Their entry comes with a significant $8 million funding commitment aimed at supporting the NDC’s global marketing efforts during the critical second half of the year.

This move underscores Angola’s expanding influence in the international diamond trade. As the world’s third-largest producer of natural diamonds and a key region for future exploration, Angola is positioning itself as a responsible and proactive leader in promoting the value and integrity of natural diamonds.

“Promoting the values and socioeconomic benefits of our diamond industry is a national priority,” said Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas. “By joining the Natural Diamond Council, Endiama and Sodiam are reinforcing our long-term commitment to transparency, sustainability, and global consumer engagement.”

David Kellie, CEO of the NDC, welcomed the partnership, noting, “Endiama and Sodiam’s participation comes at a transformative moment for the industry. Their support will help amplify our message about the natural diamond’s rarity, authenticity, and lasting positive impact.”

Richa Singh, Managing Director of NDC India & Middle East, added, “Diamonds represent deep emotional and cultural significance. With Endiama and Sodiam on board, we are better positioned to educate consumers and share the inspiring stories behind each natural diamond.”

De Beers, a founding NDC member, responded to Angola’s $8 million contribution by pledging a matching amount for 2025, further strengthening the Council’s ability to run impactful global campaigns.

With their membership, Endiama and Sodiam join a prestigious lineup of NDC contributors, including De Beers, Rio Tinto, Petra Diamonds, Murowa, and the Okavango Diamond Company. Together, they aim to promote the enduring value, ethical sourcing, and community benefits of natural diamonds on the global stage.

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DiamondBuzz

De Beers Group Sets Out Portfolio and Organisational Actions to Support Long-Term Value Creation

Company outlines strategic cost optimisation, portfolio streamlining and operational changes to strengthen resilience while positioning for long-term growth in the natural diamond industry.

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De Beers Group is advancing delivery of its business streamlining by setting out a number of planned portfolio and organisational changes to ensure an efficient cost base that strengthens resilience in the near-term while enhancing future competitiveness and retaining optionality as industry conditions improve.

Since 2024, De Beers has been streamlining its business in line with its Origins strategy to reduce costs, divest non-core assets and prioritise investment in activities that create the most value. Significant progress has been made, with more than $100 million of annual overhead costs removed from the business, the sale or closure of a number of non-core assets and significant capital and cost reconfigurations to asset expansion projects.

Simultaneously, De Beers has reinvested in natural diamond category marketing to support the industry’s efforts to grow natural diamond demand, launching new large-scale campaigns and collaborating with key stakeholders across the value chain to foster industry-wide investment. Global consumer demand for natural diamond jewellery returned to growth in 2025, while natural diamond sales increased across US independent jewellers in 2025 and into Q1 2026, led by higher value diamonds and those promoted by De Beers’ Desert Diamonds marketing campaign.

On the supply side, global rough diamond production is now decreasing, with several producers closing mines during 2026. Whilst the increasing rarity of diamonds and the emerging signs of improvement in consumer demand are likely to support longer-term value creation, rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term due to cyclical and industry-specific factors.

Consistent with recent actions to improve business resilience, De Beers intends to pause production at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years to reduce costs while also rephasing capital expenditure on its underground project. This will involve critical infrastructure investment to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the mine, with the intention to support future production growth as business and industry conditions improve.

De Beers is engaging with stakeholders in accordance with relevant requirements and the company’s values as it moves through this process, and will both support impacted employees and continue to invest in its community and Social and Labour Plan commitments.

This proposed action at Venetia Mine follows the decision earlier this year to pause the Tuzo Phase 3 expansion project at the Gahcho Kué Mine in Canada.

In parallel, De Beers plans to reconfigure its global operating model to refocus and prioritise resources on the core operational businesses and reduce its central corporate cost base.

Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, said:

“In line with our commitment to focus and streamline our business, we are making a number of changes to De Beers to ensure greater business resilience in the near-term, while supporting long-term value creation. We recognise the protracted challenging conditions as the diamond industry evolves, though we are encouraged by signs of consumer demand growth in the US and beyond, particularly in higher quality diamonds.

Global rough diamond supply is falling, bringing more support to the market. The changes we are making to our business are focused on underpinning our efficiency now and into the future, favourably positioning De Beers in its leadership role.”

De Beers Group will maintain current production levels through its other operations, and previous production guidance remains unchanged.

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JewelBuzz is Asia’s First Digital Jewellery Media & India’s No.1 B2B Jewellery Magazine, published by AM Media House. Since 2016, we’ve been the trusted source for jewellery news, market trends, trade insights, exhibitions, podcasts, and brand stories, connecting jewellers, retailers, and industry professionals worldwide.

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