Botswana Wants Double Stake in HB, for Same Money
August 14, 24
(IDEX Online) - The government of Botswana reportedly wants to renegotiate its planned purchase of a stake in Belgian polisher HB Antwerp - more than doubling its share for the same $66m payment.
In February finance minister Peggy Serame indicated that it would go ahead with plans to buy a 24 per cent stake in HB Antwerp and to let it sell 10 per cent (at least 600,000 carats annually) of its rough production.
But the rough diamond sales that drive Botswana's economy have halved so far this year as the global slump in demand persists.
And on Tuesday (13 August) the country's mines minister Lefoko Moagi told parliament he was seeking to more than double its holding.
"We will not be injecting more capital, but we will get more shares for the same amount proposed in 2023," Moagi said, according to a Reuters report.
"Instead of the 24 per cent, we will negotiate to get 49.9 per cent for the same amount initially proposed."
The deal with HB was first announced in March 2023 by the country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who heralded the move as "the dawn of a new era for the diamond industry in Botswana."
But it was put on on hold in October, after Canadian miner Lucara suddenly pulled out of its own 10-year sales agreement with HB - to sell +10.8-cts stones from its Karowe mine - only to change its mind this February.
Pic shows a student at HB's Innovation Academy, in Palapye, Botswana.