In July 2007, the Namibian arm of Diamond Trading Company announced competitive selection among the country’s diamond cutting factories to be included into the first list of NDTC sightholders. At that time, Hard Stone Processing (Pty) Ltd (HSP) was already working in Namibia as an independent manufacturer and its factory successfully occupied a strong position among the leading sightholders turning into one of the three top diamond cutting companies in Namibia. Its CEO Burhan Seber gave this interview to Rough&Polished.
Botswana diamond miner, Debswana recently said that the temporary dip in diamond prices will likely see the company producing just below its target of 25 million carats for 2011. However, Esther Kanaimba-Senai, the Group’s Manager for Corporate and Public Affairs, told Rough&Polished in an interview that Debswana was not in trouble.
Malca-Amit is a full service courier company with a 21 year record of providing the highest quality personalised service and the most efficient logistic solutions for diamonds, jewelry, gold, coins, bank notes, and valuable documents. Our correspondent in Brussels caught up with Nigel Paxman, CEO of the Malca-Amit Group of Companies, to find out more about this company.Outgoing De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) managing director David Noko has said that South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) needs to be fixed.
“That area is a mess. It needs to be fixed and I believe government is committed to fixing it. This is a temporary setback,” he told Miningmx.
South Africa set up the SDT in 2007 with major support from De Beers and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) with an aim to increase the supply of rough diamonds to the country’s polishers and cutters.
Noko was also quoted as saying that lack of progress had been caused by bureaucracy within the SDT, adding that a different approach was needed.
“The emphasis must be placed on efficient access to diamonds, whereas at the moment the emphasis in the SDT sits on legal compliance issues and issues around the operations of the government diamond valuator,” he was quoted as saying.
The SDT is mandated to buy up to 10 percent of South Africa’s rough diamond production at “market-related” prices.
Crucially, at the same time as the SDT came into operation, De Beers shut down its Diamdel subsidiary, Miningmx reports.
It said Diamdel’s function was to provide rough diamonds to smaller SA cutting and polishing firms which were not part of the group’s main rough diamond sales system.
This consisted of 10 "sights" per year, at which rough diamonds were offered for sale to a specifically chosen group of customers.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Rough&Polished, from Namibia
Rough&Polished
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