October 31, 2004
On the fringes of the Kalahari desert southwest of Gaborone, a hydraulic shovel is loading freshly blasted kimberlite on a truck at the bottom of a 300-meter-deep pit that is the world's richest diamond mine. Jwaneng, which means "place of small stones" in Setswana, is the jewel in Botswana's diamond mining industry that has catapulted the nation from poverty to middle-income wealth since the precious stones were discovered in 1967, a year after independence.
"Diamond mining is by far the most important element in the economy at the moment," says Jwaneng's manager Seb Sebetlela, before drawing a long list of benefits that this southern African country of 1.7 million has enjoyed from diamonds. Diamond earnings from Jwaneng and the three other mines owned by Debswana, a 50/50 partnership between the Botswana government and South Africa's De Beers group, account for 60% of government revenue and 70% of foreign earnings.
Opened in 1982, the mine located some 160 kilometres from the capital produces 14 million carats, almost half of Botswana's annual output of 30 million carats that brings in some 10.5 billion pula to the country. And Botswana shows no sign that it is about to relinquish its position as the world's leading producer of uncut diamonds. Jwaneng's directors say they can continue to blast diamonds out of the open pit for another 20 years. After that, they will build shafts to go deeper underground to recover the precious stones for an additional 15 years. Another diamond mine further north, Orapa, has reserves that will keep Botswana in the diamond business for an estimated 20 years beyond the lifespan of Jwaneng. "We can't just depend on Botswana being a diamond country for all time," says Sebetlela. But Botswana's reserves, coupled with the state-of-the-art technology being applied to recover diamonds, give the country a good 50 years or so to sort out how to diversify its economy.
Four years ago, a processing and cleaning plant called "the aquarium" was opened at Jwaneng, designed to ensure that once the kimberlite is out of the pit, "there is no direct handling by people" and little opportunity for theft, says assistant manager Haile Mphusu. Security is tight throughout the mine with scanners and searches, and Debswana offers a reward to any of its 2,300 employees who happen to come across a diamond and turns it in to management. From Jwaneng, the raw diamonds are flown to Gaborone for sorting before being sent to London to be sold to the Diamond Trading Company.
As the world's richest diamond mine, Jwaneng is trying to lead by example, faithfully enforcing "blood diamonds" regulations worked out under international conventions to ensure that their production is not associated with conflicts on the continent. On that score, Sebetlela takes issue with the British-based rights group Survival International, which has claimed that Botswana forcibly resettled San Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to make way for diamond mining. "They are hurting us," Sebetlela says of the accusations. "We don't understand why it is so important for them to see Botswana fail."
There were also concerns over labour unrest in the diamond mines following a two-week strike in late August that saw thousands of mine workers walk off the job to press for better wages and a bonus. At Jwaneng, union chairman Jack Thlagale says relations between workers and management have soured over the strike, which resulted in some 200 people being sacked. Debswana maintains that that the 200 fired workers were part of essential services staff such as nurses and security workers who are not allowed to strike under the terms of their contract.
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