06 Nov 2019

The managing director of Lucara Diamond, Ms Naseem Lahri says they are ready to share their state of the art technology with other companies as it has enabled them to recover large stones at a higher rate. 

Speaking during the Diamond Conference hosted by De Beers in Gaborone on Tuesday, Ms Lahri said they had developed the technology through which diamonds were not crushed during processing.

She said another technology, the XRT Machines, had increased the diamond recovery rate.  Lucara Diamond wholly owns and operates Karowe Mine situated in Boteti and is popularly known for recovering large stones such as the 1 109 carat Lesedi La Rona and 813 carat Constellation, which was sold for a record breaking US$63.1 million.

In April this year, a 1 758 near gem quality stone was also recovered.  Ms Lahri said they had partnered with a remote mapper to assist with exploration and that it has saved them time and money.

Another technology they are also willing to share with others is in security where they introduced artificial intelligence to assist with surveillance of their operations.

Meanwhile, Ms Lahri said they were about to venture into underground mining as they seek ways to expand the mine’s lifespan. For his part, the President of Endiama Limited, a diamond company situated in Angola, said they had expanded their operations into lab grown or synthetic diamonds, saying they should not be seen as a threat to natural diamonds.

Mr Jose Ganga Junior explained that nothing could replace natural diamonds and added that diamonds should contribute towards socio-economic development of their countries. He applauded Botswana for having been able to develop the country through revenue accrued from diamonds.

Talking about natural diamonds, he said they were producing 10 million carats per year but were looking at expanding to make Angola the third biggest diamond producer in the world.

He said they exported rough diamonds but would like to expand value chain to include retail and jewelry manufacturing.  Mr Marcus ter Haar, managing director of Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) said his company has been able to invest in its own employees, enabling them to climb up the ranks.

He further said they have a Youth Entrepreneurship Programme, which offered vocational training and mentoring to youths running their own businesses. ENDS