Botswana’s Leader Says Diamond Deal Reached With De Beers
- Terms of agreement to be announced soon, President Boko says
- Extraction, sales accord includes small “tweaks” to prior pact
Botswana is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds by value.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Botswana’s president Duma Boko, who swept to power in October elections, said his government has reached a diamond extraction and sales agreement with De Beers that will bring certainty to the gem-dependent economy.
Terms were finalized by midnight on Jan. 24 and will be announced soon, Boko said in an interview on Tuesday. The southern African nation is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds by value and the industry generates the bulk of its income. Most of Botswana’s gems are mined by Debswana, a venture between Anglo American Plc’s De Beers unit and the government.