Why produce what you can't sell? De Beers queries

In an interview with the Financial Times, Khama said Botswana mines sold no diamonds in November and "very little" in the subsequent two months.

"Debswana hasn't produced diamonds all year this year," she said. "Why produce what you can't sell?"Khama could not say when Debswana's four diamond mines - which include Jwaneng, the world's richest by value, and Orapa, the biggest by volume - would restart production. She said the challenge was to retain "agility" to start up once demand for diamonds returned."We think 2009 will be a very difficult year," she said. "We think, just based on historic trends, it might turn in 2010. We are saying cut costs because we don't know where the next penny is going to come from."The diamond mines, the country's largest private sector employers, had not yet cut their 6,300 staff. However, Khama said workers at Botswana's downstream operations had had their hours cut.