De Beers is confident of maintaining its long-standing partnership with Botswana, a company official has said.
Group Vice President (Global Sightholder Sales) Otsile Mabeo was quoted by Reuters as saying that their “successful" partnership will not end and the negotiations are complex.
"It’s important to note that our negotiations span more than just the sales agreement, they also include the future mining rights for Debswana, which are more complex and require more time to land on the finer details," Mabeo said.
De Beers, owned by 85 per cent of Anglo American, is negotiating with the government of Botswana to extend its mining rights to 2029.
A 2011 sales agreement governing terms for the marketing of diamonds produced by Debswana, a 50-50 joint venture between the government and De Beers, which auctions most of the gemstones, was set to end in 2021.
The parties extended it, citing the outbreak of COVID-19 as the reason for the delay in completing negotiations, and it will run through June 30, 2023.
Under the current deal, Debswana sells 75% of its output to De Beers, while 25% goes to the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently threatened to cut ties with De Beers if talks to renegotiate the sales deal prove unfavourable to his government.
“If we don’t achieve a win-win situation each party will have to pack its bags and go,” he was quoted by AFP as saying at a rally of his ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Moshupa.
“[Now] we got [an] insight into how the diamond market works and we discovered that we had been receiving less than what we should get.
“We also discovered that our diamonds are making a lot of profit and that the (2011) agreement had not been beneficial to us. We are upping the stakes because we want a larger share [of] our diamonds. It can’t be business as usual.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Group Vice President (Global Sightholder Sales) Otsile Mabeo was quoted by Reuters as saying that their “successful" partnership will not end and the negotiations are complex.
"It’s important to note that our negotiations span more than just the sales agreement, they also include the future mining rights for Debswana, which are more complex and require more time to land on the finer details," Mabeo said.
De Beers, owned by 85 per cent of Anglo American, is negotiating with the government of Botswana to extend its mining rights to 2029.
A 2011 sales agreement governing terms for the marketing of diamonds produced by Debswana, a 50-50 joint venture between the government and De Beers, which auctions most of the gemstones, was set to end in 2021.
The parties extended it, citing the outbreak of COVID-19 as the reason for the delay in completing negotiations, and it will run through June 30, 2023.
Under the current deal, Debswana sells 75% of its output to De Beers, while 25% goes to the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently threatened to cut ties with De Beers if talks to renegotiate the sales deal prove unfavourable to his government.
“If we don’t achieve a win-win situation each party will have to pack its bags and go,” he was quoted by AFP as saying at a rally of his ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Moshupa.
“[Now] we got [an] insight into how the diamond market works and we discovered that we had been receiving less than what we should get.
“We also discovered that our diamonds are making a lot of profit and that the (2011) agreement had not been beneficial to us. We are upping the stakes because we want a larger share [of] our diamonds. It can’t be business as usual.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
