Botswana yet to take 2011 allotment from De Beers - report

De Beers said that the government of Botswana has not yet taken up its share of the 2011 production it is supposed to use to “verify the market”.
Company chief executive Philippe Mellier told Rapaport that the diamond supply that belonged to the Botswana government amounted to 2.2 million carats since Debswana produced 22 million carats last year.
“We have offered the 2011 allotment but the government has not taken it,” he was quoted as saying. “On the other hand, it has not been sold either and is still available.”
The southern African country was entitled to a 10 percent of Debswana’s run-of-mine production - under a new supply agreement it signed with De Beers - for sell independently of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC).
This would rise to 15 percent over a five-year period.
Although the deal was signed last September it was effective from January 1 2011.
Botswana’s acting Minerals, Energy and Water Resources permanent secretary Nchidzi Mmolawa said at the just ended Mining Indaba that the government was in the process of setting up a diamond company that would manage and carry out diamond auctions on its behalf.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished