Botswana President Khama: We’ll Look at Assisting Polishers

The government of Botswana may assist local diamond polishing plants in trouble, President Ian Khama said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Khama spoke about the country’s diamond production, De Beers and the global economic crisis.

President Khama told FT that revenue from diamonds is predicted to fall by 50 percent, adding that diamond production will be lowered by 40 percent, a decision De Beers and Botswana made together.

About the closure of Damtshaa and Orapa No. 2, Khama said they were not economically viable until rough diamond prices increased. “So obviously they would be the first ones to be moth-balled when there’s a problem like this.”

Asked about brining value addition into the country and the problems the cutters and polishers are facing, Khama replied, “Well, those are independent entities, private sector operations. And that is just something that we are talking to them about, that if they need us to assist them as a government in trying to keep them afloat, we can look at that. And as I said, it’s something that we are monitoring.”

Khama denied reports that the move of De Beers’ aggregation operations is not taking place, stating that its “going ahead,”, and that De Beers is “indeed” honoring its commitments.