ODC records P20m on first auction

The Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has made up to P20 million from the first diamonds that the company auctioned.

Presenting at the ongoing Electra mining exhibitions at Fairgrounds Botswana Diamond Hub Mmetla Masire said the ODC would now be trading on a regular basis beginning this month. “The idea is to make diamonds available to the local people since the sales have no restrictions,” he said. He added that the ODC has increased allocation of diamonds to the local manufacturing businesses from $550 million to $800 million.Masire said the ODC intends to make Botswana a trading platform for diamonds and already the country is selling diamonds from Lesotho.

He said their target is to put Botswana among the top four diamond traders across the world. “The hope is that the auctions will help develop skills and interest for diamond marketing among the locals, with hope that they could develop into qualified sight holders for Debswana.” He said the relocation of the Diamond Trading Company has stimulated activities and led to increased traffic of people coming into the country, increased sources of money in the banking industry and a catalyst of growth in different sectors. Presenting on the Debswana supply chain management Kedibonye Protector revealed that locals are reluctant to take advantage of the supply opportunities available at the diamond mining company.

The company is only spending 10 percent on citizen owned companies, about 66 percent on foreign owned companies that are in the country and about 24 percent on foreign companies. Debswana currently has over 3000 suppliers in their registry and it is up to the companies to ensure that they market their products. The services that are in demand are in the drilling, blasting, cutting, and structural steel work and in engineering consultancy. The company is looking at improving their citizen participation policy to ensure that supplies valued at P10 million could be reserved for locals. “However locals are interested in low scope supply and this might be due to their lack of capital,” he said adding that mining is expensive hence it is difficult for locals to participate. “Despite that citizens have the responsibility to explore the opportunities available.”

Meanwhile acting principal minerals officer in the ministry of Minerals Energy and Water Resources Modisane Botsile revealed that contribution of minerals to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently stands at 19 percent, below the 46 percent target. The contribution fell down by 7.8 percent from 26.8 percent contribution recorded in 2010.