Sparkling performance at De Beers

De Beers, the diamond mining subsidiary of mining giant Anglo American, saw a sharp rise in earnings last year.

De Beers's achieved underlying earnings of $968m in 2011, against a 2010 figure of $598m.

The 62% rise in earnings was revealed by Anglo American, the long time major stakeholder in the firm which took a controlling interest in November of last year.

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For full year 2011 however, Anglo will only receive 45% of the earnings - the level of its stake before the takeover. This amounts to $443m.

The significant increase in earnings over 2011 emphasises the case for the $5.1bn transaction, which ended the Oppenheimer family's 80-year involvement in De Beers.

BS