Namibia May Sell Diamonds Outside De Beers Joint Venture

Bloomberg reported that the government of Namibia is setting up a company to sell some of the diamonds mined by Namdeb Diamond Corp., a joint venture it owns equally with Anglo American plc’s (LSE:AAL) De Beers unit.

As quoted in the market news:

‘For the company to operate, there has to be an agreement with De Beers,’ said Katali, adding that Namibia won’t initially want to market 50 percent of Namdeb’s production. ‘We are being guided by the Botswana example.’

Botswana’s Okavanago Diamond Co. started selling 13 percent of the country’s gems in December, after De Beers agreed to a new 10-year marketing pact. Namibia expects negotiations on setting up the new diamond company to be completed by December, said Katali. The Orange River formed the world’s richest marine- diamond deposit by laying down an estimated 80 million carats of gems off the coast of Namibia.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.