Diamonds & Specialty Products
The Diamonds and Specialty Products group encompasses Diamonds and Titanium Minerals.
Operations
The cornerstone of BHP Billiton’s Diamonds business is the EKATI Diamond Mine, of which we own 80 per cent. EKATI is located in the Canada’s Northwest Territories and produces approximately four million carats of rough diamonds annually. Annual sales from EKATI (including minority shares) represent around three per cent of current world rough diamond supply by weight and six per cent by value. We sell most of our rough diamonds to international diamond buyers through our Antwerp sales office. We sell up to 10 per cent of our rough diamonds to two Canadian manufacturers, and we sell both polished and rough diamonds directly to jewellers. We sell polished diamonds, manufactured through contract polishing arrangements, through our CanadaMark™ and AURIAS ™ brands. For information about our Diamonds and Specialty Products marketing activities, see Diamonds and Specialty Products in Customer Centre.
Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is a 50 per cent owned heavy mineral sands mine and smelter situated in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. RBM is a major producer of titania slag, high purity pig iron, rutile and zircon. We have a titania slag project at Corridor Sands in Mozambique.