26 Apr 2023

Lucara Mining Company through technology, has found a niche in large diamonds and has extracted the best possible value with  70 per cent of its bottom line geared towards large stones.

Addressing the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa on Monday, Ms Naseem Lahri, Lucara Botswana Managing Director said they were operating a junior mine and therefore generally they were not in a competition. 

She said Lucara had to find a niche in the exceptional stones as it could not compete against large mining companies such as De Beers.

She said Lucara has become famous for recovering large stones such as 1758 carat Sewelo, Lesedi la Rona (1109 carats) and The Constellation (813 carats).

Ms Lahri said they were doing well, adding their partnership with HB Antwerp would further help expand their business.

“Who wouldn’t want to buy a Botswana diamond?” she asked rhetorically about the market and competition with other diamond-producing countries.

Her presentation followed that of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi who had earlier touched on the importance of the diamond industry in the local economy and how government had avoided the resource curse.

Ms Lahri said there was potential in the market, adding ‘people like our stones’.

While some countries have been at the centre of controversy surrounding their diamonds and were in the process labelled ‘blood diamonds’, Botswana has been able to use revenue generated from the gems to develop infrastructure and Batswana.

She said they had to improve to be at the top by adopting new technology in diamond processing and selling.

Ms Lahri said they were currently expanding their operations by developing underground mining.

For her part, Founder of Thelma West Diamonds, Ms Thelma West, said her journey in the mining industry had not been easy as she had to overcome obstacles and penetrate a male dominated industry.

While Ms Lahri has grown through the ranks, albeit in different companies, Ms West did not have a mining background which made things a little more complex.

“It has been tough, I realised I had the strength to just keep going,” she said.  

Ms Lahri explained that 30 per cent of their workforce was made up of women, adding they had  developed a platform to encourage them to do any job in the mining sector. ends