[miningmx.com] — BOTSWANA has formed a new state-owned diamond trading company that would purchase, market and sell the 10% to 15% portion of Debswana production that the state is entitled to through the new marketing agreement signed with De Beers last year, news daily Mmegi reported on Friday.
Styled Okavango Diamond Trading Company, the new company is expected to independently auction an estimated $300m worth of diamonds on the open market per year from Debswana’s average $3bn-a-year supply. In his Committee of Supply speech to Parliament this week, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe said his ministry had completed the incorporation of the private company, which is wholly owned by government.
“The interim board of directors of the company has been appointed and the appointment of CEO will follow suit immediately as the potential candidate to set up the company has already been identified,” the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, told the country’s parliament last week, as quoted by Mmegi.
Under the 10-year deal signed in September last year, Botswana will buy 10% of Debswana run-of-mine production and sell it independently through open tenders outside the traditional DTC framework. The government’s portion will rise to 15% over a four-year period.
