Diamond Production in Australia Expected to Grow by Over 21% in 2012

Australia's two-year drop in diamond production is expected to end in 2012 and grow by over 21%, a report published Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) says.

The ABARES report projects that diamond production in 2012 will reach 12.05 million carats with an export value of approximately $456.6 million.

According to the ABARES report, the country's total diamond production for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is expected to comprise some 9.9 million carats, falling short of earlier estimates of 10.63 million carats. This figure represents a 10.6% decrease compared to the country's rough diamond production in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

In the 2009 calendar year, a period still deeply affected by the global financial crisis, Australia produced 15.6 million carats of diamonds with a total value of $312.7 million and an average per-carat value of $20.04.

Australia is also the source of most of the world's red and pink colored diamonds, 90% of which are recovered from Rio Tinto's Argyle mine in Western Australia.