Govt looking at increased local supply of rough diamonds

Government has negotiated new terms to increase the local supply of rough diamonds to the cutting and polishing industry to between 25 and 30%. Currently, 10% of Namibian diamonds are sold to local diamond companies while the rest are exported to Botswana where De Beers moved its headquarters to. Government owns 50% shares in Namdeb Holdings (Namdeb), a joint venture with De Beers. The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Tjekero Tweya announced this at a media briefing yesterday, saying Cabinet approved the new terms of the sales and marketing agreement between government and De Beers Société Anonyme. De Beers Société Anonyme is the holding company of the De Beers Group of Companies. Tweya said the new terms would promote the viability of local markets, whilst ensuring continuous job creation and skills transfer to many young Namibians. The State is also negotiating for a window on the market to enable it to buy a meaningful portion of Namdeb Holdings’ rough diamonds and sell it through alternative channels. Another term of agreement is to ensure that the entire range of special stones (qualities, classes and sizes) are available for sale and manufacturing in Namibia without limits. Namibia’s diamond commissioner, Kennedy Hamutenya, who is part of the diamond negotiation team, told a local English daily newspaper in 2014, government is still optimistic about wrapping up a win-win diamond deal with De Beers. Hamutenya said Namibia is trying to maximise benefits from diamonds, but to do that the country needs to create a viable and sustainable industry. “It means more of our diamonds must stay in Namibia to work for Namibia,” he was quoted as saying. According to him, the Namibian beneficiation sector should “be given more oxygen to compete in a cut-throat environment”, which the country will be able to achieve by looking at Namibia-specific tailor-made solutions. WINDHOEK NAMPA