BOTSWANA

The History of Diamond Production: Botswana: The Country that Diamonds Built

What would make Nelson Mandela plead against sanctions on De Beers for its failure to be swifter and more vocal in condemning the traffic in conflict diamonds back in the late 1990s? After all, the company deserved criticism for its inaction during the great flood of blood diamonds—estimated by some to have accounted for as much as 15% of all new rough coming on the market in those years. Mandela felt that De Beers’ seeming indifference to conflict diamonds was far outweighed by its role in helping Botswana, a neighbor of South Africa, develop its mammoth kimberlite pipes and become the world’s number one diamond producer in value terms ($2.3 billion in 2004) and number two producer in volume terms (31.1 million carats in 2004)...

Thanks to De Beers, which has a 50/50 joint venture with the government to operate the country’s largest mine at Orapa, launched in 1973, Botswana has become one of the healthiest African economies—with diamonds accounting for 60% of revenues.

Now the news is getting even better for Botswana. In 2004, it was announced that new exploration has uncovered possibly the richest deposits ever found in the country—ones rich in exceedingly rare class two diamonds that are very pure and often very large. De Beers will also have a 50/50 stake in this venture, too—thus continuing its role as Botswana’s chief corporate benefactor.