Someone alerted me to this interesting quote in a recent article in Botswanan newspaper Mmegi, from a man who was the former chairman of Debswana:

Tombale says the sightholders could be required to relocate their headquarters to Botswana and to mentor smaller, locally owned cutting and polishing companies.

I can’t imagine many companies, who have been in places like India and Israel for generations, moving their headquarters to Botswana. 

I fully support beneficiation. Producing countries should get the most benefit out of their resources possible. But it is still an unproven concept. No one is really sure whether cutting will work in Botswana. And it really does seem like people there are getting a little ahead of themselves.

Rob Bates

JCK News Director