27 Nov 2024

The De Beers Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Al Cook has assured the diamond industry about Botswana and De Beers’ commitment to complete their diamond sales deal agreement.

Contributing to the diamond industry conversations at the FACETS 2024 in a packed Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) plenary piazza, he told attendants that the industry has the right to expect the agreement to be in place. In that regard, Mr Cook said with the new government in place, there has been an injection of energy and desire to get the agreement completed.

“We have had conversation to say ‘let us get this agreement done. Let us get the world’s greatest diamond country producer and the world’s greatest company’ move on to work shoulder-to-shoulder with this industry to build beyond, to build the industry, to build the marketing and the desire for the diamonds that we produce,” he said.

Asked by the diamond industry analyst, Edahn Golan, whether the world diamond markets should be worried about the agreement, he said investors should trust the process.

He underscored that the partnership has never been in bad hands and that its message has always been conveyed as discharging leadership obligations by both parties, but also needed the involvement of all in driving sustainability.

Mr Cook further told attendants that no country on earth has special resources than Botswana, and that her history of stability and a future that was focused on sustainability and traceability could not be underrated.

He said De Beers takes pride in the conviction that diamonds produced in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada complied with ethics and sustainability issues since the host governments has set standards that were some of the finest in world.

As part of  improving their long lasting relationship, De Beers believed that these countries should be involved not only in rough diamond sales, but into polished diamond sales.

“The diamonds from these countries deserve a premium because of all the work and the goodness that has gone into the recovery of those diamonds,” he said. He said De Beers was working with a number of sightholders to establish what kind of polished partnerships could be put together.

He said this was a good moment since for decades, De Beers has had agreements with the sightholders, most of which would be renewed beginning of 2026 and should include the new ‘partnerships’ to sell polished diamonds.

“This is an ideal moment to say, in addition to the way that we have been selling rough diamonds, what can we do regarding selling polished diamonds that were enablers to gain the premium that we believe diamonds from countries like Botswana deserve?” he said.

He said De Beers is great at working with producer countries, mining, marketing with retailers and said there were many companies that were better at polishing than De Beers itself and he said the new division would be built on partnership.

Mr Cook said De Beers was also involved in ensuring that modern consumers were taken into consideration including their desire to know about the credibility of resources, the importance of the rule of law on the way diamonds have been recovered, livelihoods and their impact on biodiversity.

“For the first time, we can trace diamonds from source to retailer, mine to finger,” he stressed.

FACETS 2024 was held under the theme, “Navigating A New Era.” It was organised by the World Diamond Centre (WDC), the umbrella organisation representing the world’s oldest and foremost diamond trade hub. ENDS