Botswana’s Debswana plans to sparkle this year

Botswana’s leading diamond miner Debswana hopes a state-of-the-art Zeppelin can help it push production to a record 33 million carats this year, which would hand the economy of the African country a further boost.

“In the next five years, Debswana will be the world’s leading producer of diamonds, both in volume and in value,” said Debswana’s deputy managing director Len Makwinje. “This year, we are planning to do better than in 2005 and we are looking at producing more than 32 million carats and maybe even 33 million,” he told AFP in an interview.The economy of Botswana, an arid landlocked country in southern Africa, is hugely dependent on its most important resource, diamonds, which made up some 70 per cent of its export product and account for 60 per cent of government revenue.Debswana has renewed its focus on exploration by using an advanced Zeppelin airship, which can cover vast tracts of land from the air to look for possible diamond deposits.Gareth Penny, the managing director of South African diamond giant De Beers, which owns half of Debswana, said recently: “We have seen some very interesting things that we need to look at further”.This year, the airship will cover 50 000 square metres around Botswana, looking at rocks carrying potential kimberlite – the mineral in which diamonds are found.Discovered in 1967, one year after independence from Britain, the precious stones have catapulted Botswana from poor backwater poverty to middle-income wealth and last year brought in some 16,5 billion pula.Debswana, in which the Botswana government and De Beers own an equal share, said its short-term strategy was to boost operational efficiency and plant utilisation at its four mines, including Jwaneng, the world’s richest diamond producer.Penny of De Beers said recently that Debswana’s four mines – Jwaneng, Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa – had already recovered 16,26 million carats in the first half of 2006.This compared with 15,27 million carats in the same period of last year, he said.Opened in 1982, Jwaneng is the jewel in Botswana’s diamond industry and the world’s richest diamond mine.It produced some 14 million carats in 2004, according to the latest statistics.To boost production, Debswana planned on building new plants and installing new technology, Debswana’s Makwinje said.At Jwaneng, situated on the fringes of the Kalahari desert some 160 km southwest of Gaborone, moves are afoot for instance to replace its main treatment plant, he said.Asked when Debswana’s opencast mines planned to move underground, Makwinje told AFP that “planning for the event was underway”, adding: “We are not going to go underground any time soon.”Nampa-AFP”This year, we are planning to do better than in 2005 and we are looking at producing more than 32 million carats and maybe even 33 million,” he told AFP in an interview.The economy of Botswana, an arid landlocked country in southern Africa, is hugely dependent on its most important resource, diamonds, which made up some 70 per cent of its export product and account for 60 per cent of government revenue.Debswana has renewed its focus on exploration by using an advanced Zeppelin airship, which can cover vast tracts of land from the air to look for possible diamond deposits.Gareth Penny, the managing director of South African diamond giant De Beers, which owns half of Debswana, said recently: “We have seen some very interesting things that we need to look at further”.This year, the airship will cover 50 000 square metres around Botswana, looking at rocks carrying potential kimberlite – the mineral in which diamonds are found.Discovered in 1967, one year after independence from Britain, the precious stones have catapulted Botswana from poor backwater poverty to middle-income wealth and last year brought in some 16,5 billion pula.Debswana, in which the Botswana government and De Beers own an equal share, said its short-term strategy was to boost operational efficiency and plant utilisation at its four mines, including Jwaneng, the world’s richest diamond producer.Penny of De Beers said recently that Debswana’s four mines – Jwaneng, Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa – had already recovered 16,26 million carats in the first half of 2006.This compared with 15,27 million carats in the same period of last year, he said.Opened in 1982, Jwaneng is the jewel in Botswana’s diamond industry and the world’s richest diamond mine.It produced some 14 million carats in 2004, according to the latest statistics.To boost production, Debswana planned on building new plants and installing new technology, Debswana’s Makwinje said.At Jwaneng, situated on the fringes of the Kalahari desert some 160 km southwest of Gaborone, moves are afoot for instance to replace its main treatment plant, he said.Asked when Debswana’s opencast mines planned to move underground, Makwinje told AFP that “planning for the event was underway”, adding: “We are not going to go underground any time soon.”Nampa-AFP

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