De Beers is convinced it will be present in Botswana for a very long time as the company is highly confident of discovering more diamond deposits in the country and other southern African countries, Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer has said.

Speaking to BusinessWeek in a telephone interview, Oppenheimer, who is also the Debswana chair, said De Beers' presence was no longer only in mining but had moved to downstream activities, a development which showed the company's intentions to develop the industry in Botswana.

"We have invested a substantial amount of money in trying to extend the lifespan of mines in Botswana, particularly with the Cut 8 project at Jwaneng where we will extract 100 million carats until about 2025," he said.

"But thereafter, we are confident that we will find more deposits in the country, but the key will be sustainable mining as well as beneficiation as one carat mined means one less carat to mine." However, Oppenheimer would not be drawn into discussing progress on the on-going negotiations between government and De Beers.

The outcome of the talks will determine the long-term future of diamond mining and downstream activities in Botswana, particularly if De Beers finally aggrees to relocate aggregation to Gaborone. The relocation of aggregation from London would mean De Beers' diamonds from the company's mines - including in Canada, Namibia and South Africa - will continue to be traded in Gaborone long after local deposits have run out.

Questions have been raised around De Beers' long-term plans in Botswana where they have been mining diamonds for over 40 years in light of revelations that in the absence of new discoveries, the country will run out of significant deposits by 2030.

In the interview, Oppenheimer was quick to dismiss suggestions by some analysts that the appointment of relative industry outsider, Philippe Mellier, as CEO this week would usher in a new era where De Beers might even transform itself into a marketing and luxury goods company and divest from mining.

Wrote analyst Chaim Even-Zohar in Diamond Intelligence Briefs this week: "It is obvious that having someone with the background and qualities of Mellier at the helm of the team may become a defining moment in the company's corporate life.

"It may enable De Beers to divest of mines and become more of a luxury and leisure company rather than a mining company. This would do wonders for the company's value - something that, at the end of the day, is what business is all about."

Even so, Oppenheimer insisted that there were currently no plans to redefine their core business and that the bringing in of Mellier, who has never managed a mining or diamond company before, was meant to look at the business and challenges with a different view. "We have taken a deliberate concerted effort to grow our market in the emerging economies such as India and China where we believe the future lies," he said. "These markets have a new generation of people and therefore new trends, and we believe someone like Mellier who has worked for ever-evolving companies such as Ford, Volvo and Renault will use his marketing experience to fully penetrate our new targeted areas of growth."

Mellier, who was in Botswana a few weeks ago and met with PSP (Permanent Secretary to the President) Eric Molale and Minerals minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe, previously held the positions of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault Trucks. From 2000, he also served as a member of the Volvo Group Executive Committee.

From 1999 to 2000, he was Senior Vice President, Market Area Europe at Renault SA. Prior to that, he had a long career at Ford Motor Company, including senior management responsibilities in several countries.

Oppenheimer said Mellier was the right candidate as he had a good track record of dealing with governments around the world and delivering on large projects, especially at this time when the company was looking ahead to the Cut-8 expansion project at Jwaneng - the largest-ever investment in Botswana.

De Beers, which is 45 percent owned by Anglo American, 40 percent by the Oppenheimer family and 15 percent by the Botswana government, controls about 40 percent of the world's rough diamond supply.