Masisi rallies for natural diamonds in Las Vegas

The annual JCK Show is one of the diamond world’s biggest calendar events and this year attracted about 30,000 delegates from across the value chain of the industry. Botswana for the first time established a booth at the show, while Masisi took the lead in championing the argument for natural diamonds both for the country and for the industry.

“You must never underestimate attempts to scratch you and do you harm,” he said in a fireside chat on Friday. “But let’s pause a moment and ask yourself what is a lab-grown. What is it? What does it mean for those buying them? What’s the end game? “The more you churn these things out, the more they become such a useless ubiquity that no self-respecting young lady or old lady would want it. It comes close to becoming an object of violence to your feelings.”