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Botswana govt to renew De Beers concession licence
July 23, 2004, 09:00
The Botswana government has confirmed that it will renew its concession
mining licence with De Beers for the Jwaneng Diamond mine. Earlier
reports speculated that the Botswana government wants to secure more
favourable terms from De Beers, failing which it might consider not to
renew the company's licence, which expires at the end of this month.
Botswana diamonds are valued number one in the world. Botswana is the
second largest producer diamonds after Australia.
The government of Botswana owns half of the local diamond operating
company Debswana, and also has a stake in De Beers. Last year Jwaneng
diamond mine contributed $1.3 billion of the $2.25billion produced from
Debswana mines. It is believed that the company has successfully negotiated with the Botswana Government, for the routine renewal of
their 25 year lease.
Boometswe Mokgothu, the minister of minerals and energy in Botswana,
said: "We are just about to review little other legislation and also to
review the lease agreements we have with them. I am just hoping that we
are not going to part with them. We will definitely throughout - there
are ofcourse some companies which are also coming in.but for sure I
cannot say we are going to dump De Beers and go to these companies...surely we will be with them for quite some time."
The Botswana government is also to request De Beers to assist the country's fledging diamond polishing industry. Botswana has the
strongest economy in Africa, which is largely dependent on diamond
mining activities.
http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,84265,00.html
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