(IDEX Online News) – De Beers Sightholders have been "pleasantly surprised" by the smooth transition of Sights to Botswana, Neo Moroka, De Beers' Resident Director in Gaborone, told IDEX Online.

 

"At the first Sight in Botswana last November, Sightholders said everything surpassed expectations. They passed through Customs without problems, they are happy with the modern and highly secure facilities here, hotels and restaurants are fine and other facilities such as the Internet are also of a sufficiently high level," he said as the third Sight in Botswana was taking place.

 

Moroka, who is also chairman of De Beers Global Sightholder Sales, is charged with maintaining the miner's relationship with the Botswana government and the commercial interests of the company in the country.

 

"Whatever issues arise between the government and De Beers, then I am the first port of call.

 

"We worked with the government on a steering committee regarding the migration of Diamond Trading Company operations to Gaborone from London which all took place ahead of time. The Botswana government went to great lengths to ensure this would pass off smoothly, including developing the airport and holding talks with airlines about services, Internet connections and other infrastructure issues and resident permits for people moving here.

 

"Of course, this is a process, and there are still other issues to be dealt with. But the government has shown that it is committed to getting everything right because they want to make Botswana the diamond center of the world.

 

"If Antwerp and India can be diamond centers when they don't actually mine any diamonds, then Botswana with its diamond wealth certainly has the foundations as the biggest diamond-producer by value to be a major center, especially with the high level of cooperation between the government and De Beers."

 

He said the beneficiation process would take time to further develop, and that downstream activities such as jewelry manufacturing were definitely viable.

 

He also said that it was "not inconceivable" that the number of DTC Botswana Sightholders could rise beyond the current total of 21.

 

"That would depend on how many companies were able to meet De Beers' Sightholder criteria and how many firms that the government would want to license."