Diamonds may be forever, but the question of who has the rights to the sparkly stones is anything but set in stone. This was made clear when the government of Botswana won a new “agreement in principle” with De Beers, the inter- national diamond conglomerate, after a round of tough negotiations.
Under the new agreement, Botswana, the world’s second-largest diamond producer, will immediately get a 30% share of the rough stones extracted, up from 25%. Its share will rise to 50% within a decade.
De Beers will also pump in 1 billion pula ($75 million) towards a diamond fund which will invest in “additional value to the Botswana economy,” the company said, adding that those contributions would grow 10 times over the next 10 years.
Originally the company kept all of the diamonds it mined. In 2011, De Beers took 90% of the rough diamonds mined, while Botswana got 10%. In 2020, Botswana’s share rose to 25%.
Last year, De Beers obtained about 70% of its rough diamonds from Botswana.