De Beers to sell rough diamonds through Botswana, Namibia JVs

| Thursday December 20, 2007 00:00

Until now, the DTC sold all its rough diamonds through its London operations. De Beers said in an emailed statement that it would now have 79 clients, or 'sightholders', across the world, 75 of which would be supplied through the London and South African units of the DTC. The new contracts would run from March 31, 2008, to March 30, 2011. Of the 75 sightholders for the 2008-2011 contract period, six were new applicants qualifying for a DTC supply contract for the first time, De Beers said.

'We are successfully implementing a new commercial strategy. This involves restructuring our operations to help meet the wider economic goals of producer governments as well as providing our clients with the world's best source of supply, supported by industry-leading intellectual property,' said DTC MD Varda Shine.

'Competition for rough diamonds is now fiercer than ever, and we are confident that the diverse range of companies to which the DTC is able to offer supply are those best placed to add real value to the rough diamonds we sell.'

De Beers recently formed separate joint ventures with the governments of Botswana and Namibia. The group mines about 60 percent of its diamonds in Botswana, where it is building state-of-the-art cutting, polishing and sorting facilities.

De Beers said in September that it expects DTC Botswana to cut and polish more than $550-million worth of rough diamonds a year by 2010.
(Engineringsnews)