/ 13 September 2000

DE BEERS COMPLETES WINSPEAR TAKEOVER

DE BEERS, the world’s largest producer of diamonds, has completed its successful 305m Canadian dollar bid for the takeover of diamond producer Winspear Diamonds.The offer saw 96.2% of Winspear shareholders accept De Beers’ bid of C$5 per share. De Beers last month concluded the agreement for the acquisition of Winspear, which counts among its assets mineral-rich land in northern Canada, including the key Snap Lake project. This is forecast to produce around 1.9m carats in diamonds per year, or a total of 67m recoverable carats.