Jwaneng Celebrates Silver Jubilee

The mine, the world's largest producer of diamonds by value whose gems sparkle on the fingers of new couples in the US and Japan - and now increasingly in India and China - is a member of a family of four mines owned by Debswana, a 50/50 partnership between De Beers and the Government of Botswana.

Speaking at the spectacular silver jubilee affair attended by miners, civic and tribal leaders, senior government officials and journalists, Mogae said Jwaneng Mine had made Botswana a significant global diamond producer after the first carat was produced there in 1982. "Since Jwaneng Mine went into operation, this country was catapulted to (the) top of the international arena of diamond players," President Mogae said. When the mine started in 1982, its production was a modest 2.6 million carats. Today Jwaneng Mine produces an average of 13 to 14 million carats per year - mostly gemstones - outstripping all mines in the world.