Modern Mining March 2022

De Beers is future ready with Diamond Technological advancements continue to underpin the clean, green sustainable drive as businesses push the boundaries in search of innovative ways to reduce their impact on the environment, lower their carbon footprint, improve productivity and drive the agenda beyond zero harm. Diamond miner De Beers Group is walking the talk, using Diamond FutureSmart Mining, an innovation-led approach to carve out a sustainable future for mining, writes Nelendhre Moodley .

considerations as ranking alongside the quality and design of their jewellery in terms of their importance to a purchase decision. Our approach to sustain- ability – Building Forever – seeks to meet consumer expectations in the various aspects of our work. For example, when it comes to our goals to Protect the Natural World, we are committed to being car- bon neutral across all our operations, reducing our water footprint by 50% and achieving a net positive impact on biodiversity – all by 2030. We are also using the latest technology to support provenance programmes that will communicate the origin and impact of every diamond we discover and sell,” she explains. Given the enhanced global focus on sustainabil- ity, De Beers Group established its Building Forever Sustainability Framework which targets the creation of long-term positive impacts on the environment, communities, industry ethics and equal opportunity. “Building Forever sits at the heart of our business strategy and targets our ambition of being the pio- neer of a new diamond world. As such, we are rolling out a number of sustainability initiatives under this programme,” explains Dr Govender. One such initiative is the implementation of a Carbon Neutral Roadmap. “The development and implementation of the Carbon Neutral Roadmap has progressed signifi- cantly, with a Group-level strategy for Scope 1, 2, and 3 in place, and detailed Carbon Neutral Roadmaps already developed for Debswana, Namdeb, and Debmarine. A detailed action plan to get us to car- bon neutrality across our operations by 2030 is being implemented – the plan centres on the deliv- ery of the tools, resources, and knowledge needed. Added to this, is a Scope 3 baseline assessment and strategy that looks at the Group’s indirect emissions along the diamond value chain that has also been completed,” says Dr Govender. Greenhouse gas emissions are categorised into three groups or ‘scopes’ by the most widely-used

D iamond FutureSmart Mining is set to play a key role in De Beers Group’s future as it combines technology and digitalisation to deliver a new approach to sustainable mining. This focus aligns with expectations from consumers, communi- ties and stakeholders for miners to do business in a way that takes cognisance of issues related to the natural environment and sustainability. “So important is sustainability that our recently released 2021 Diamond Insight Report identi- fied sustainability as a key mega trend across all consumer sectors,” says De Beers Group head for safety and sustainable development, Dr Urishanie Govender. The top five sustainability considerations for dia- mond consumers in the study were protection of the environment, fair worker treatment, conflict-free sourcing, supporting local communities and diamond origin. “Consumers want to ensure that the dia- monds they purchase reflect their values. They now see responsible business and sustainability

De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver signs the company’s Safety Pledge at the CEO Safety Summit.

18  MODERN MINING  March 2022