2023-07-01 07:12:50
After months of negotiations and Gaborone’s threat to hand over the market to a Belgian company, the Botswana authorities and the diamond giant De Beers have signed a new diamond sales agreement.
It is scheduled to run for ten years, ensure production of rough diamonds from Debswana until 2033, and deed new mining licenses to the latter until 2054.
The latter is a leading mining company in Africa, a joint venture between the Botswana government and the diamond conglomerate De Beers. The first sells 75% of its production to the second. The rest is taken care of by a public company.
Debswana’s diamond sales hit a record $4.5 billion last year, regarding $1 billion more than in 2021.
These diamond sales account for two-thirds of Botswana’s foreign exchange earnings and one-fifth of its gross domestic product.
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