Sales for the seventh cycle stood at a provisional $505 million, down $134 million or 21% from what De Beers got at the same cycle in 2016, when it began releasing this kind of data.
Hattorf is the second site the company has had to shut down in the last two weeks due to a severe drought affecting the country, especially in the northern and eastern parts.
After more than two decades of improving mine safety since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s progress has stalled with an increase in gold-mining deaths.