Bryus Kliver (Bruce Cleaver), CEO of De Beers, said that there is a serious threat to downgrade the credit rating of South Africa, and because the authorities of this country need to convince investors of the devotion to certain regulatory standards and financial stability.
According to Bloomberg, South Africa is trying to revive the slowing economy and limit the size of government debt in view of a number of credit rating agencies warning of a possible downgrade of the credit rating, which is now only one level above speculative, according to Fitch Ratings Ltd. assessment and S & P Global Ratings.
It is reported that the battle between South African President Jacob Zuma (Jacob Zuma) and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhanom (Pravin Gordhan) for control of the treasury and state-owned companies only adds to concerns about the downgrade.
"South Africa is now in a bit of a quandary - quoted by Bloomberg Cleaver -. I think that the threat of a downgrade is very serious."
He said that the problems in South Africa should be resolved with time, since De Beers is investing heavily in the country's economy.
"We have an expansion program in the amount of $ 2 billion to our largest mine in South Africa, which actually completed only by 40%", - says Cleaver.
Development of De Beers underground mine project at Venice (Venetia) in South Africa, is expected to increase its life cycle until 2040 or even more.
Lynette Gould (Lynette Gould), the head of De Beers Media Relations, said to Rough & Polished in an interview last month that a new underground mine is the largest single investment in the diamond industry of South Africa for decades, and the start of production on it is scheduled for 2022 and an output to full output in the 2025 year, it will be processed about 132 million tonnes of ore, containing about 94 million carats.
According to her, it had already been created about 1500 jobs for local people, and is planned to create about 500 jobs when large underground development will begin.
http://pearlsgift.blogspot.ca/