12 Jul 2023

Botswana has been hailed as testament of how the good fortune of home to diamond deposits can be properly used in the processing and value chain beneficiation of the gem. Contributing during the US-Africa Business Summit plenary session themed: Enhancing Africa’s Value in Global Value Chains, which was attended by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi yesterday, Africa Finance Corporation executive director, Mr Sanjeev Gupta said the country had, since the discovery of diamonds, achieved an impressive record of economic development.

The opening session explored this year’s theme reflecting on the broad examples of successful initiatives that increase the value which African enterprises add to production ranging from Botswana’s example of transforming diamond processing. Having stayed in Botswana in the 1990s, he said Botswana had made strides in extending the diamond value chain in an effort to bringing new meaningful ways in mining beneficiation.

Mr Gupta said Botswana had over the years experienced transformational economic growth to be one of the leading African economies in terms of economic output.
Debswana managing director, Mr Andrew Motsumi highlighted that Debswana was actively supportive to government’s efforts to diversifying the economy from reliance on mining, particularly diamonds.

“We support government in this effort and President Masisi has encouraged greater investment in a knowledge-based economy and the adoption of innovation in mining, hence our efforts,” he said. Mr Motsumi stated that Debswana was famed for contributing significantly to the economy of Botswana.

“Through diamond revenues from Debswana, Botswana’s fortunes have turned from being one of the 10 poorest countries in the world in 1966 to becoming an upper middle-income economy,” he said. Diamond revenue, he said, contributed 85 per cent of national foreign exchange earnings, one-third of government revenue, and one-fifth of GDP.

He said Debswana produced between 22 and 24 million carats per annum, adding that production from all mines were sold to De Beers and Okavango Diamond Company, with the latter being a 100 per cent government owned company dedicated to selling and marketing rough diamonds. To that effect, Mr Motsumi noted that Debswana was the biggest supplier of rough diamonds to De Beers Group and second largest employer in Botswana after government.

He further indicated that Debswana was currently investing in using technology to future-proof the organisation and lately embarked on a journey to transform into a future smart connected mining business.

This, he said, involved transforming into a data-driven mining business using artificial intelligence and data analytics that looked at reducing environmental footprint by pursuing decarbonisation and transition to green energy.

He said the company pursued the Zero Harm goals by employing automation responsibly as well as investing in socio-economic development projects around the host communities and countrywide. ENDS