De Beers and Anglo American executives met today with Botswana’s new president, Duma Boko, and both sides expressed optimism that they would soon sign a long-delayed contract.

“We see the negotiations concluding in days and weeks, not months and years,” De Beers CEO Al Cook (pictured) said after the talks in Botswana, according to Bloomberg. “We are getting to the point of the technicalities in the agreements, dotting the i’s and crossing t’s.

“I believe it’s very important that the diamond markets around the world see the nation of Botswana and the company of De Beers standing shoulder to shoulder in order to promote natural diamonds. That will build [industry] confidence.”

Boko told the media before the meeting that while Botswana and De Beers have occasionally been at odds, “we have a longstanding partnership which has benefited our country.… We are confident it will endure into the future.

“Where there are any niggling issues, as I understand that there have been and probably still are, we will work together.”

Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo American, De Beers’ majority owner, told reporters that “the partnership that we at De Beers have had with Botswana is one of our proudest partnerships that we value deeply.… We stand committed to working faithfully and openly with the government of Botswana in driving forward what has been an incredibly good relationship and partnership with this country over 50 years for at least the next 50 years.”

There was a certain irony in Wanblad referring to a five-decade-old partnership, since Anglo has put its longtime partner De Beers up for sale.

After Boko was sworn in on Nov. 1, he indicated that negotiations for a new contract—which was originally supposed to be signed in 2021—had broken down and said that would put his country in “a very dangerous position.” De Beers and Botswana signed an agreement in principle in June 2023, but since then a new contract has not been finalized.

(Photo courtesy of De Beers)

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