14 Nov 2024

Government and De Beers have pledged to resolve issues delaying the signing of a new sales agreement and mining license, which will renew their long standing partnership.

The two communicated their intentions yesterday during a courtesy call on President Advocate Duma Boko by Anglo American chief executive officer, Mr Duncan Wanbland and De Beers Group chief executive officer, Mr Al Cook.

President Boko said he was confident that the partnership between the two would endure into the future. 

“Where there are any niggling issues as I understand they have been and probably still are, we will work together as we should as partners who have worked together for a long period,” he said.

He said Anglo American, which holds the majority stake in De Beers, had a long standing beneficial partnership with Botswana and that addressing the niggling issues would be done in the best possible manner.

“We will engage with each other in the utmost faith,” he said.

For his part, Mr Wanbland said the partnership Anglo American and De Beers had with Botswana was deep and that they valued it, adding that they were optimistic to continue with it.

Mr Wanbland also said partners at times had diverging issues and that they ought to be addressed, adding that they were committed to working faithfully with government to further strengthen ties.

He also congratulated President Boko for ascending to the country’s presidency during the recent general elections.

In an interview after the courtesy call, Mr Cook said their partnership with Botswana dated way back and that the aim of the meeting with President Boko was about the renewal of the partnership.

He noted that the diamond market was in a challenging phase and that De Beers and Botswana would stand shoulder to shoulder to market and create the desire for natural diamonds.

He said both sides were confident that they would reach an alignment on the agreements shortly and that both teams were actively negotiating.

“We see the negotiations concluding in days and weeks, not months and years. We are getting to the technicalities in the agreement,” he said.

The meeting between government, Anglo American and De Beers was the first since the change of a government, but Botswana and De Beers had already reached a deal in principle before the elections.

The new agreement between Botswana and De Beers centres around a 10-year sales agreement for Debswana rough diamonds to 2033 and a new 25-year Debswana mining license to 2054. Ends