Govt challenge: Making beneficiation sustainable

More questions than answers were raised on the sustainability of Botswana's fledgling diamond cutting and polishing industry this week when over 350 people converged on GICC to deliberate on the roadmap for the country's diamond beneficiation.

So many questions were left unanswered that the organisers called for another roundtable to be held soon. While most participants were supportive of the government's ultimate aim of sustainable beneficiation, it became clear that at present, the foreign investors in the industry were only in Gaborone because of the city's guaranteed access to rough supply, a factor that was also the sole "leverage" the government had to induce companies to come to Botswana.