Jwaneng Mine

Spin is what it is all about. So when De Beers and Botswana wax lyrical about their new joint venture, the other side of the story is less rosy, said Mineweb. Botswana, the world’s largest diamond producing country, might well be seen as again coming to the rescue of De Beers. The government in the dusty capital, Gaborone, certainly has the leverage to have De Beers do what it is told. Of all the commodities these past months, diamonds have stood out as having no flame. Only a few weeks back De Beers chairman Nicholas Oppenheimer was bemoaning to analysts the fact that his company could not increase prices because of rising interest rates.

Saleable diamond production rose which may be attributeed to the significant performance by the Main Treatment Plant and Recrush plants as well as a higher than budgeted recovered grade. Progress has also been made on the safety front with most people paying serious attention to the small housekeeping details that cumulatively result in a safe working environment.

Last Wednesday there was news that production out of De Beers's Botswana division, Debswana, was set to level out around the 31 million carat mark in coming years, but next year lower grades may knock a chunk off the revenue line as well. In a presentation made at the Botswana Resource Conference in mid-August, Debswana said revenues would drop in the coming years as the company mines through more lower grade materials, reports Mineweb.