document: Turbulence in the global diamond markets is being felt even here at Venetia , De Beers ' newest diamond mine , 30km from South Africa 's borders with Botswana and Zimbabwe . Only weeks before the mine came into production in July 1992 at a cost of USDollars 400m , De Beers ' Central Selling Organisation , which controls 80 per cent of world trade in rough -LRB- uncut -RRB- diamonds , imposed quotas on its producer-suppliers because of a flood of gem stones from Angola . For a time Venetia , the first mine of any sort in South Africa to gain permission for seven-day working , moved to a five-day week . This year it has gone back to seven-day working as the quotas were eased so that the CSO is now accepting 85 per cent of the diamonds it contracted to take from producers . However , there is still turmoil in the diamond market , caused by uncertainty about Russian exports following ` leaks ' of stones from that country outside its contract with the CSO . Consequently , Mr Hans Gastrow , general manager , says that this year Venetia will process 4.3 m tonnes of ore , 6.5 per cent below its capacity . It is also mining an area of lower grade ore , which has fewer diamonds in each tonne . Mr Gastrow is giving no forecasts but all this implies that output will be well below the 5.6 m carats a year De Beers predicted Venetia would yield at full production . Last year the mine , building up rapidly , more than doubled output and processed 3.6 m tonnes of ore to recover 4.96 m carats . About 70 per cent of Venetia 's diamonds are of gem quality and analysts suggest that at Dollars 100 a carat on average the mine is generating annual sales of about Dollars 500m . Mr Gastrow says that , apart from the imposition of the CSO quota , Venetia ` has made a remarkably smooth transition from construction to production ' . This year will be a time of consolidation . He insists that the quota is having no impact on employment . Nevertheless , Venetia originally was to have employed 870 and it now has 764 . A mine of Venetia 's size in the past would have employed 2,000 . The total has been kept down here partly by highly automated process plant but also by ` fewer people employed just to see that other people are doing their jobs ' , according to Mr David Gadd-Claxton , ore extraction manager . Venetia was the first new South African diamond mine for 25 years . It is also the country 's biggest diamond mine and a major contributor of export earnings . The mine has also revitalised De Beers ' production , as it is accounting for half the group 's output in South Africa and replacing production from its 100-year-old Kimberley mines , which are now fading away . Venetia 's success is strategically important to De Beers because , when its output is added to that in Botswana and Namibia , it gives the group direct control over more than 50 per cent of world rough gem diamond output . This provides a major base for the CSO to work from and gives it a powerful position from which to negotiate with other producers in the diamond cartel . And , while Venetia is using conventional methods to mine about 500m tonnes of waste and to mine and process 100m tonnes of ore over its projected 23-year life , it is trying some highly innovative ideas about labour relations and environmental issues , at least as far as South Africa is concerned . For example , there are no migrant workers at the mine . Employees are bussed in from nearby towns for 12-hour shifts and then return to their families . Venetia is also breaking with the De Beers ' tradition that , for security reasons , no equipment leaves the mine but is burried within the top security area once it is no longer useful . Here worn out equipment will be stockpiled and sold off when the mine closes . It could be worth millions of dollars .
extractive_keyphrases: global diamond markets central selling organisation diamond cartel rough gem diamond output turbulence south african diamond mine venetia de beers russian exports