Botswana’s President Says De Beers Deal Is Done

By Rob Bates | January 29, 2025

Botswana president Duma Boko told Bloomberg that his country has reached a long-delayed new agreement with De Beers.

Boko said terms were finalized on Jan. 24 and will be announced soon.

“The issue with De Beers has been settled,” he told the news service during an energy conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

De Beers did not respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Boko—who was elected president in November—hinted that a deal would be signed soon, following some “tidying up.”

Botswana and De Beers have been operating under the 10-year contract signed in 2011, which was extended after expiring at the end of 2021.

Boko told Bloomberg there won’t be “any major changes” to the agreement the two parties reached in June 2023. That deal was commemorated in a “head of terms” in October 2023, but arriving at a final agreement has proved elusive.

Speaking on other subjects, Boko told Bloomberg, “We appreciate the threat posed by lab-grown diamonds…. [Botswana will] market our diamonds in terms of their provenance and of the story behind the diamond.”

(Photo courtesy of the government of Botswana)