The shift came when HB Antwerp opened a “state of the art, proprietary” facility in the Diamond Technology Park in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.
Botswana said Okavango Diamond Company, the state-owned diamond seller, will supply the new factory with rough.
HB Antwerp also has an agreement with Lucara Diamond, owner of the Karowe mine in Botswana, to buy all the large diamonds produced by Karowe. HB said this model – which involves HB obtaining diamonds on credit and then calculating the final price based on the final sale – has led to increased revenue for Botswana.
While HB Antwerp's statement did not mention De Beers, media outlets portrayed it as another warning sign that Botswana and De Beers' five-decade partnership may be at risk. (Botswana also owns 15% of De Beers.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the factory opening "has the potential to change the game".
“With HB, we have created an entirely new business model for mineral infrastructure, radically inverting the narrative on how extractive industries can work with and for source countries to bring about greater shared economic development and prosperity. Once we decided it was time to change course, we knew we needed to fundamentally change the way we work and find partners who shared that vision."
Rafael Papismedov, co-founder of HB Antwerp, added in a statement: “Our success has come – and will continue to come – from our fearless willingness to challenge every aspect of the way things have been done so far and to recognize the value where others have gone unnoticed.”
Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer by value, and De Beers signed a 10-year sales and mining agreement in 2011. That agreement has now been renewed three times and is set to expire again in June.
