April 28 - Diamond Corp said on Thursday that it had moved back into profit as the global recovery stoked demand for its luxury product and it was cautiously optimistic about the market picking up further.

Diamond Corp

Namdeb, Namibia's main diamond producer, is a 50-50 joint venture between De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by mining group Anglo American, and the country's government.

It said production in carats rose by 58 percent in 2010 to almost 1.5 million carats after a sharp fall in 2009 while sales were up 12 percent to just over 1.5 million carats.
After tax profit was 419 million Namibian dollars compared to a loss of N$414 million in 2009.

"We remain cautiously optimistic about the diamond market. Continued positive growth is expected albeit at a lower rate," Namdeb MD Inge Zaamwani Kamwi told a news briefing.

Kamwi said the company had taken several measures to remain afloat, including producing in line with demand and not "burning cash upfront by stockpiling."
"Actions that we took as management in response to the global economic crisis have ensured that we are still here," Kamwi said.

Diamonds are one of the mainstays of the economy of Namibia, contributing about six percent to the gross domestic product of the sparsely populated but mineral-rich nation and about 35 percent of its foreign export earnings.