De Beers Group is the current corporate identity of the diamond company founded in 1888 as De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited. The group operates principally as a mining and rough-diamond marketing entity, with active mines in Botswana (Jwaneng and Orapa, operated through the joint-venture Debswana with the Government of Botswana), Namibia (offshore marine mining through Debmarine Namibia, also a joint venture), South Africa (Venetia), and Canada (Gahcho Kué, joint venture with Mountain Province Diamonds). The group is 85 per cent owned by Anglo American plc and 15 per cent by the Government of the Republic of Botswana, a shareholding structure put in place in 2011 with Anglo American's purchase of the Oppenheimer family stake.

Operating segments

The group's principal segments are mining (the four producing operations listed above), rough-diamond marketing (sales through the long-running sightholder system, now branded under the De Beers Auctions and Global Sightholder Sales arms), brand and retail (the De Beers Jewellers retail brand, with stores in major cities, and the Forevermark consumer brand), laboratory-grown diamonds (the Lightbox brand launched 2018), and industrial applications and synthesis technology through Element Six, the De Beers technology subsidiary that produces both natural and synthetic industrial diamond and the gem-quality CVD and HPHT material that supplies the Lightbox programme.

Botswana

Botswana is the dominant production base. The country accounts for the majority of De Beers Group rough output and has been the cornerstone of Botswanan economic development for fifty years through the Debswana joint venture, founded 1969 with operations beginning at Orapa in 1971 and at Jwaneng in 1982. The 2023 sales agreement renegotiation between De Beers and the Botswana government, settled at the end of that year, increased the share of Debswana production sold by the government's Okavango Diamond Company from 25 per cent to 30 per cent immediately and to 50 per cent over the ten-year agreement period, with further structural changes signalling Botswana's increasing direct role in marketing its own production.

The Anglo American review

In May 2024, Anglo American announced a strategic review including the proposed sale or demerger of De Beers Group, as part of a broader restructuring of Anglo American's portfolio. The status of De Beers Group's ownership was therefore in flux through 2024 and 2025, and the company's future structure was under negotiation with the Government of Botswana, prospective buyers, and other stakeholders. As of early 2026 the review remains the principal context for understanding the company's near-term outlook, and any reader consulting this article should treat the ownership and corporate structure as subject to revision pending the outcome.