Mine nationalisation disastrous for economy � Mokaila

He also said there are no intentions by government to buy out private investors in the mineral sector, stating that the move will drive away the much-needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to fund new prospecting projects and ongoing investments in existing operations.

“Such a move will lead to a free-fall of the mineral sector and the economy,” Mokaila said. He further explained that the price of buying out De Beers from Debswana is not known at the moment because government has not valued the asset. “The process of establishing such a price is determined by a number of factors, which include willingness of the other party to sell, agreed valuation of the asset by the parties involved through an independent valuation and contractual agreements already in place,” he said.