What De Beers’ Contract With Botswana Means for Diamonds

By Rob Bates | June 25, 2025

At the recent JCK show, I had a joint interview with two of the most important people in Botswana’s diamond industry: Mmetla Masire, CEO of Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), the state-owned seller, and Andrew Motsomi, managing director of Debswana, the De Beers–Botswana joint venture that oversees De Beers’ mines in the country.

Masire and Motsomi discussed what Botswana’s new 10-year contract with De Beers means for the country’s diamond trade, whether the natural diamond business is experiencing a turnaround, the future of diamond marketing, and just what they were doing at JCK.

What percentage of Debswana’s production is Okovongo now selling?

Masire: We are now up to 30% [from 25%]. It will be 30% for five years, then it goes to 40%, and then it will ramp up to 50%.

A lot of people in Botswana were rooting for ODC to get a greater portion of the sales. I understand that Debswana is a 50/50 partnership, but, presumably, De Beers earns a markup when it sells its share of Debswana output and ODC earns a markup when it sells its stones. How much more will Botswana earn by selling its diamonds through ODC?

Masire: You are making an assumption that selling is always profitable. In a market like this, it might not necessarily be helpful to sell the largest share. Yes, all things being equal, the person with the largest share will make more money. Sometimes the person with the largest share will be defending the loss, and wanting to minimize the loss. So there are pros and cons.

Will ODC be selling its rough in any particular way? I know you did tenders for a while.

Masire: Yes, we’ve been selling by auction, but from September this year, we will introduce contracts. We won’t call them [our clients] sightholders. That’s a De Beers name. We will call them source contracts.

Do you expect to sell to clients using the same approach as De Beers?

Masire: We are doing something different. We are doing our own thing. We’ve always been different in how we approach sales; even our auction approach is different. It’s not surprising we will be taking a totally different approach than De Beers. We are developing our selection criteria and a new pricing model. I can’t give a lot of details because it hasn’t been finalized.

Botswana is supposed to be spending a lot more money on marketing.

Masire: The new agreement calls for the Botswana government and De Beers to share expenses based on the on the split [in sales of Debswana rough]. Now the government is going to be paying 30% of marketing. And ODC will contribute to that 30%. So, of the $100 million that they’re talking about, $70 million will be from De Beers, $30 million from Botswana government.

Will Botswana have a bigger say in diamond marketing?

Masire: There’s a joint committee between the two parties that drives what comes out of [the marketing budget]. It will have stakeholders from both sides. Botswana will influence the marketing.

Will you want some of that money to be earmarked to promote Botswana diamonds?

Motsomi: [Debswana’s] two shareholders are working to find a way of slowly and increasingly putting this message of provenance on the map. ODC will specifically be highlighting Botswana natural diamonds. But I don’t think it’s going to be inconsistent with what [De Beers] is doing. The larger goal is the same.

You have announced that Okavango diamonds will be sold with Tracr.

Masire: We will be tracking all three-grainers and above that we get from Debswana. So we are in collaboration with Debswana because the story is concrete only if you get it right from the source. We can verify, and the customer has the assurance that ODC diamonds, right from the mine, are the real deal.

We are partnering with some manufacturers, so that when you buy their diamonds, and you scan a QR code, it gives you the history of the person who’s [worked on] the diamonds, shows you that picture, a little clip, talks about Botswana, talks about what diamonds are doing [for Botswana]. So more and more we will see that: when a consumer buys, together with the GIA certificate they will get a QR code that they can scan.

Are you noticing a turnaround in the market?

Masire: The market is more solid at the moment. We have had good sell-through for the last three sales. What is causing us concern is what is causing most people concern. It’s the tariffs, because they create uncertainty. So the uncertainty factor is the problem.

Any thoughts on the sale of De Beers?

Motsomi: What we want is, basically, continuity. The government and De Beers have signed an agreement, which we would like to see continue.

Angola has a booth at JCK. Do you consider them a competitor, or do you think it’s good they’re trying to follow your model?

Motsomi: Obviously, as [De Beers CEO] Al [Cook] announced at the breakfast, De Beers is their biggest area of exploration. Angola is a fellow SADC member who are exploiting their resources, which can also be used for the betterment of the lives of the people of Angola. I don’t really see that it’s something we should be uncomfortable with.

Masire: We are a collaborative competitor. We have common interests. We are all sitting and talking about the same issues. Right now, everyone agrees that we must to do a lot of marketing. So all the parties are coming together. Sometimes you put your competitive nature out of the way for the greater good, and then you can compete later.

When you come to a show like this, what are your goals?

Masire: We talk to a wide spectrum of people. Sometimes we do need to have a line of sight [into the market] because we are dependent on manufacturers to tell us what the retailers are saying, because we don’t deal with the retailers.

We are not exposed to lab-growns. But when we come here, we see and interact with them. We see for ourselves the price drops. So it’s also useful in that sense. It helps us feel the mood of the industry, and what is going on.

My audience is mostly U.S. retail jewelers. Anything you want them to know?

Motsomi: There’s technology in the market that can distinguish between natural and lab-grown diamonds. If they deploy that, that can help us, so consumers can know what they are purchasing, especially when we talk about natural diamonds and tell stories about natural diamonds.

Masire: We wish to encourage a much more open dialogue. We have the knowledge and the information about what happens [at the mine], and retailers engage more with the consumer. We have been talking through the manufacturer and the middleman. We want to promote more open and direct communication with the retailers.

(Top photo: Getty Images)