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De Beers Shifts Aggregation to Botswana
Aug 14, 2012 10:59 AM
By Avi Krawitz
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RAPAPORT... De Beers has moved its aggregation department from London to Gaborone as part of the gradual transfer of its Diamond Trading Company (DTC) operations to Botswana.
“As De Beers shifts more and more of its sales operations to Botswana over the next year, we will solidify the long-term future of the partnership and work to transform Botswana into one of the world’s leading diamond trading and manufacturing hubs,” said Philippe Mellier, De Beers chief executive.
Aggregation is the process of mixing same category of diamonds from De Beers global operations in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Canada, before they are prepared for distribution to sightholders.
With aggregation now taking place at the DTC Botswana facility in Gaborone, De Beers estimated that approximately $6 billion worth of diamonds will now flow through the country. Until this week, aggregation had taken place in London for nearly 80 years, the company explained.
The transfer of aggregation is part of DTC’s overall migration of its London sights and sales operations to Gaborone, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.
Essentially, from now until the transition is complete, the sight boxes will be created in Gaborone and forwarded to the U.K. for distribution to the 66 London sightholders and two Canadian sightholders. The appropriate boxes will be sent directly from Gaborone to Johannesburg for the 10 South African sightholders and to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, for the 13 DTC Namibia sightholders, with the remainder staying in Gaborone for DTC Botswana’s 21 sightholders.
The move was part of the sales agreement between De Beers and the Botswana government signed last year and forms an integral part of governments plan to develop a diamond trading hub in Gaborone.
“This is a key milestone for the diamond industry in Botswana. By shifting the center of gravity of the diamond world here, we are bringing in more economic activity, more skills and more broad-based business opportunities to the country,” said Ponatshego H.K. Kedikilwe, the Vice President and Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. “We are also growing our international profile and establishing the kind of platform that all economies need for sustainable growth and diversification.”
By the end of 2013, De Beers reported that more than $22 million (BWP 170 million) will have been invested to have its DTCB building ready for the first sight in Gaborone.
Pictured above: From left to right: Neo Moroka (resident director and chief executive of De Beers Botswana Holdings), Kedikilwe, Mellier and Varda Shine, the chief executive of DTC.
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Tags:
Avi Krawitz, Botswana, De Beers, Diamond Trading Company, diamonds, DTC, Rapaport
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