At a ceremony in May attended by Botswana’s President Festus Mogae, De Beers and that country’s government signed an agreement establishing the Diamond Trading Company Botswana. The 50:50 joint venture will begin sorting and valuing all the diamond production of Debswana, De Beers’ 38-year-old partnership with Botswana, in late 2007 or early 2008, after the completion of a new $83m complex rising near Gaborone’s airport. From 2009 it will take over “aggregation” – the mixing of diamonds from different countries into consistent like-with-like assortments – currently carried out by De Beers’ DTC in London.
For Botswana, De Beers’ largest country of operation, the creation of the new unit means moving up the value chain beyond mining and initial sorting to sales and marketing. The country also hopes to draw sightholders from traditional cutting centres in the northern hemisphere to Gaborone. Debswana will continue to sell all its production to the London-based DTC – and “sights” will also continue to be held in London and Johannesburg – but local diamond companies will also be able to buy directly in Gaborone. The government hopes that this, in turn, will bring spin-off benefits for the country in such things as air services and hotels. Blackie Marole, Debswana’s managing director, says that having sightholders come would “put the country on the map”.
