Namibia Not Sure It Wants to Buy De Beers

Namibia isn’t sure it wants to join a proposed consortium of African diamond producers looking to buy De Beers, the country’s minister of industries, mines, and energy, Natangwe Ithete, told a local publication.

“It depends,” Ithete, who is also Namibia’s deputy prime minister, said in Mining & Energy. “To be honest, the diamond industry is going down. It is not a secret that the industry is under pressure and affected by the so-called lab diamonds, the synthetic diamonds. So this is something we need to study very carefully, to determine whether it is worth pursuing or not.”

He added that Angola, which is spearheading the initiative, hasn’t yet reached out to the Namibian government about the idea.

“Maybe the communication has not yet come through, or maybe it is still to come,” said Ithete.

Angola’s proposal was generally seen as a response to comments made by Botswana president Duma Boko on Bloomberg Television that his country is aiming to gain majority ownership of De Beers by the end of October. Yet in a video of the full interview, Boko said Botswana is engaging with Angola about the bid, to form a possible “consortium.”

Botswana already owns 15% of De Beers; the other 85% is owned by Anglo American, which is selling its stake.

In an article last week in Botswana newspaper Mmegi, veteran industry analyst Chaim Even-Zohar heartily endorsed the idea of Botswana taking over De Beers, and suggested that neighboring Namibia would be a “better and [more] reliable ally” than Angola for Botswana in a possible bid.

De Beers and Namibia are 50/50 partners in Namdeb, which runs the country’s diamond mining operations.

Top: A diamond mining operation in Namibia (photo courtesy of Namdeb)