MPs grill Moagi on Govt. - HB Antwerp deal

Members of Parliament took turns in parliament displaying their unhappiness and questioning the selection criteria that government used when entering into an agreement with Belgian diamond company, HB Antwerp.

Supplementary questions poured in following a question asked by the Member of Parliament for Maun West Dumelang Saleshando, who was not in parliament but had asked his Botswana Congress Party Vice President, Taolo Lucas to take it on his behalf.

But no amount of explanation by the Minister of Minerals Lefoko Moagi could satisfy them. Saleshando asked Minister Moagi to state the key commercial terms of the agreement between HB Antwerp and the Botswana Government and to specifically provide details on the process that was engaged to identify HB Antwerp as a partner for the Government and how the process accorded other players the same opportunity to be considered.

Moagi said in terms of legislation, all mineral rights in Botswana are vested in the State. It is the responsibility of the Minister responsible for minerals to ensure that the country’s mineral resources are explored and exploited in the most efficient and timely manner.

Recently, Botswana’s Parliament adopted the country’s first mineral policy document which clearly spells out the country’s aspirations with regards to development of its mineral resources.

HB Antwerp together with Lucara Diamond Corporation initiated this unsolicited proposal in 2019. After a very extensive process, the Government decided to engage HB Antwerp on its unsolicited proposal with clear intentions of developing Botswana’s diamond value chain. 'Other players have had similarly unsolicited proposals reviewed by GRB – and we continue to receive and evaluate such. Government evaluates each unsolicited proposal on the basis of the proposer’s furtherance of Government’s stated economic development objectives,' Moagi said.

He added that the value proposition by HB Antwerp has been assessed to be robust as it addresses the right strategic and commercial decision for GRB to diversify into an alternative ecosystem to realise full value for its diamonds.

The aspirations include development of value chains in the minerals sector – as stated in the Reset Agenda – Priority.

'This desire for value chain development is especially urgent in the diamond sector which we regard as low hanging fruit. In developing these value chains, we will constantly explore new opportunities as our diamonds endowment presents one of the greatest platforms to industrialise our economy.'

Moagi said the aspirations of the strategic partnership with HB is to see Botswana participating in the mid and down streams of the diamond sector.

Not only that, the country will also participate in the innovation and technologies that are developed and owned by HB Antwerp, thus helping Botswana to build a knowledge- based economy.

He told Parliament that the company has developed an outstanding in-house research and development facility to solve complex technical challenges, and every step of their intricate production process is meticulously recorded in a secure block chain ledger so that the journey of each diamond is auditable and traceable.

'Our youth are part of the team that is building this knowledge. Indeed, HB Antwerp’s efforts in job creation for skilled Batswana graduates were also seen by government to be attractive.'

Moagi said HB Antwerp’s proposal is innovative in a number of ways which can provide a significant positive impact in Botswana.

First, HB Antwerp proposes not only to buy a rough diamond from Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), which is how the industry and other buyers currently operate, but also to cut, polish and market that diamond and share the additional revenue generated from the polished price with Government.

This innovation, according to Moagi will enable the Government to generate significantly higher revenue per diamond and will therefore strengthen the country's fiscal position.

The Government has observed and verified the polished price uplift that HB Antwerp has generated for Lucara Diamond Corporation.