Is Botswana Getting A Raw Deal From De Beers Diamonds - The World News [top]

Furthermore, the threat of depletion hangs over any mining-dependent nation. While Botswana’s mines have decades of life left, they are becoming deeper and more expensive to operate. The true measure of whether Botswana secured a good deal from De Beers will not just be the percentage of rough diamonds it receives today, but how effectively the government reinvests those current diamond revenues into building a sustainable, knowledge-based economy for tomorrow.

While De Beers has helped build roads and schools, critics argue the partnership failed to industrialize the country early enough. Now, with mines getting deeper and more expensive to operate (transitioning from open-pit to underground mining), the profit margins are thinning. The government is racing against time to use diamond revenue to build a knowledge-based economy before the pits run dry or the market disappears. Conclusion

— The World News

Botswana is getting a raw deal not because of malice, but because the 50-year partnership was built for an era of stable growth and rising demand. That era is over. The country now faces the impossible task of trying to secure prosperity from a resource that is no longer as valuable, through a company that is losing money, all while trying to buy that same company for a price it can barely afford. The partnership that built Botswana into a success story may now be the very thing holding it back from its next stage of development.

To understand whether Botswana is getting a raw deal, one must look at the mechanics of the current arrangement. The relationship operates primarily through , a 50/50 joint venture between the government of Botswana and De Beers. Furthermore, the threat of depletion hangs over any

Is Botswana getting a raw deal? In the strictest financial sense regarding value addition and downstream integration, the answer has historically been yes . The nation has been a passive supplier of raw wealth rather than an active participant in the luxury market.

Economic outcomes: measurable benefits to Botswana While De Beers has helped build roads and

For decades, the partnership between the Government of Botswana and De Beers was often cited as a model public-private partnership. However, critics argued that the corporate giant held the upper hand by controlling the sorting, pricing, and marketing of the gems.

The seeds of the current discontent were sown in previous renegotiations. Historically, De Beers moved diamonds from Botswana to London for sorting and aggregation before they were sold. Conclusion — The World News Botswana is getting

However, as the mines grow deeper and more expensive to operate—such as the massive underground expansion project at Jwaneng—the old model of simply taxing raw extraction is no longer sustainable.

While De Beers moved its "sights" (sales events) to Gaborone in 2013, a symbolic victory for the nation, critics argue this was a logistical shift rather than a structural economic transformation. Botswana still sells the rough stones. The lucrative downstream industries—where a rough stone becomes a polished jewel sold in a boutique in New York or Hong Kong—remain largely out of reach for the Batswana economy.