Botswana and Angola meet with De Beers in mind
With both nations eying control of De Beers, Botswana and Angola’s Mining Ministers met in Gaborone on Friday for clear-the-air talks amid fears their quest for diamond domination might trigger a standoff.
Although President Duma Boko’s government has shied away from publicly addressing any rival bids, Angola released a short statement confirming the two ministers discussed acquiring shares in De Beers without going into detail.
Despite a well-documented slump in diamond sales, Botswana, which owns 15 percent of De Beers, with Anglo American controlling 85 percent, considers the company a strategic national asset.
Initially, Angola sought a minority stake in De Beers but later submitted a bid for majority ownership, setting up a potential bidding war with BW.
Speaking collaboration rather than competition, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo played down talk of a looming face-off.
“At the top of everyone’s minds this year is the performance of the diamond industry and our collaborative efforts in bringing back the spark and the shine to the industry. As some of the largest producers of diamonds by quantity and value in the world, it is only right that we meet and join hands in discussing how to get the most out of this natural resource,” she said.
Last year, the mining world saw a major shift with Botswana’s two decade reign as Africa’s leading diamond producer by value brought to a crashing halt by Angola.
According to figures from the Kimberley Process, Botswana’s diamond output fell sharply in 2024, slumping to 18.1 million carats worth US$1.36 billion. This represents a drop of 27.8 percent in volume and 58.6 percent in value from the previous year, when 25 million carats were produced with a value of US$3.3 billion.
In contrast, Angola produced 14.03 million carats valued at US$1.41 billion, a 43.8 percent increase in volume, though its revenue slipped 7.8 percent due to weaker prices.
Since KP began publishing diamond statistics in 2004, Botswana has consistently dominated global production, often generating more than double Angola’s output.
At its peak in 2022, the country produced US$4.7 billion worth of diamonds, compared with Angola’s US$1.96 billion.
In truth, the shift reflects Botswana’s steep decline rather than a major surge from Angola. The downturn stems from falling global demand and weaker prices, which caused Botswana and De Beers to scale back extraction.
Anglo put De Beers, one of the world’s leading diamond companies, up for sale, valuing it at $4.9 billion, to focus on other parts of its business, mainly clean-energy metal copper. In a clear sign of the diamond industry’s recent struggles, as recently as February last year, Anglo’s valuation stood at $7.6 billion.
Meanwhile, President Boko reiterated the country’s commitment to acquiring a majority stake in De Beers.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, Boko stressed that while Botswana strives to diversify its mining sector, diamonds will remain a major contributor to growth.
“It is in this regard that concrete steps are underway towards the acquisition of Anglo American’s shares in De Beers. Government will leverage a majority stake to align the industry with Botswana’s national development goal of economic diversification through beneficiation,” declared the President without expanding further.
