BOTSWANA is taking steps to buy a majority stake in De Beers following Angola’s rival bid for the diamond producer, said Reuters citing the comments of President Duma Boko.
The southern African nation, which owns 15% of De Beers and supplies 70% of its annual rough diamond output, regards the company as a strategic national asset despite a global price slump that has damaged its economy, the newswire said.
Boko told parliament during a State of the Nation Address in Gaborone that whilst Botswana sought to diversify its mining sector, diamonds would remain a major economic contributor.
“It is in this regard that concrete steps are underway towards the acquisition of Anglo American’s shares in De Beers,” Boko said, declining to provide further details.
Mining ministers from Botswana and Angola met in the capital on November 7 amid concerns that the regional allies’ competing bids could provoke a standoff.
Gaborone made no reference to the rival bids in comments following the meeting, but Angola’s mines ministry said in a statement that the ministers discussed acquiring shares in De Beers without elaborating.
Anglo American, which owns 85% of De Beers, is selling its entire holding to concentrate primarily on copper, a clean-energy metal. The global mining group values De Beers at $4.9bn.
