[miningmx.com] – THE diamond mines of Botswana were ageing and becoming more expensive to run, a development that was a major negative for the Botswanan economy which was reliant on mining, said Bloomberg News.
“This slowdown has been painful and some of the mines here really got a hit,’ Balisi Bonyongo, MD of Debswana Diamond Company, a joint mining venture between Botswana’s government and Anglo American unit De Beers, said in a speech in Gaborone attended by the newswire.
“Our mines are becoming bigger and deeper and costs are rising. Our greatest challenge is to remain competitive,” he said.
Now the diamond mining industry is floundering as jewelry sales stagnate amid a slowdown in China, said Bloomberg News. An index of rough diamond prices hit a five-year low last month, it said.
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