Indian rough diamond cutting and polishing company Finestar has expanded its operational footprint in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), unveiling its latest facility in the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone, near OR Tambo International Airport, on September 5.

The R300-million facility complements the company’s other diamond cutting and polishing facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, the US, Namibia, Botswana and India.

The new local Finestar facility employs 46 people, of which 29 are South Africans who have been trained to cut and polish diamonds to the highest standards.

Finestar specialises in polishing diamonds ranging from 1 ct to more than 30 ct in weight in all colours and clarity, and sells to more than 80 000 customers globally – mostly through its online platforms.

At the opening of the facility, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said it was a proud moment for South Africa’s mining sector, adding to its beneficiation capacity, as well as to that of the SADC as a whole.

Mantashe lauded the facility’s scale and sophistication, with its world-class equipment being used to cut and polish rough diamonds to precise specifications.

“Beneficiation, value-addition and skills development are central to building a resilient and sustainable mining sector,” he stated.

The investment is particularly significant given the difficulties that the global diamond industry is facing, including heightened competition from lab-grown diamonds, financing constraints, declining exploration and fluctuations in production.

Mantashe pointed out that lab-grown diamonds already had 25% of the diamond trade market share in the US. 

Locally, South Africa’s natural diamond sector will be impacted by the 30% US import tariff having been imposed in August – a punitive tariff that will not be imposed on gold, platinum-group metals and coal.

Mantashe committed to continue creating an enabling environment for investors such as Finestar to build an ecosystem where private capital, government policy and community needs converged for mutual benefit.

“It is about positioning South Africa and the SADC region as a global hub for diamond trade and jewellery manufacturing.”

The Minister mentioned the importance of promoting natural diamonds as rare, finite and full of community heritage. “When people buy a natural diamond, they must know that they are supporting livelihoods, schools, clinics and infrastructure in producing countries such as ours,” he explained.

Mantashe warned, however, that without exploration there would be no future diamonds to cut and polish.

He encouraged the investment community to prioritise exploration, which can cement the mining sector’s sustainability. In turn, Mantashe affirmed that government would support exploration through sound policy, infrastructure development and partnerships that inspire confidence.

Meanwhile, Finestar South Africa CEO Prince Mbetse confirmed that the company was deeply passionate about creating positive social impacts and had already made a conscious effort to hire, train and transfer skills to women, and had various other community development initiatives planned.

He added that Finestar also had multiple initiatives to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, including the use of renewable energy and rainwater harvesting, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality.

Finestar South Africa, like its other African counterpart facilities, issues traceability certificates for all its diamonds, and keeps a digital asset record representing every physical diamond having been processed.

The Finestar traceability certificate not only assures buyers of diamonds’ origins from mine to market but also states the intrinsic qualities of a diamond across an extensive set of parameters, as defined and measured by the company’s in-house certification and grading teams.

Finestar was among the first diamond polishing organisations globally to use blockchain traceability and responsibly sources 100% of its rough diamond supply directly from mining companies, to ensure they are conflict-free and have been mined ethically. 

During the launch of the facility, State Diamond Trader CEO Nosiphiwo Mzamo expressed support for the new facility, saying she looked forward to the State-owned entity supplying Finestar with high-quality rough diamonds produced by South Africa’s own diamond mining operations.