It’s taken time for it to come through. But the much awaited new contract between Botswana and De Beers which has finally been signed envisages far reaching changes. One of the most significant is that from early 2014 the seat of the sight will shift from London to Gaborone, where sightholders will be expected to go each month. To prepare for this, the entire staff and operations of DTC will shift to Gaborone by the end of 2013.

At another level, 10 per cent of Debswana’s mining output will be sold to the Government of Botswana and not be mixed with the rest of the goods distributed by DTC to sightholders. This allotment will increase to 15 per cent over the next five years. It is no secret that Botswana, like other African countries was making a strenuous bid for greater control and better utilisation of its resources. Its ambitions to become a diamond hub and to develop manufacturing within the country meant that it had long outgrown the old equation with De Beers.

The new agreement goes beyond the pale of mere beneficiation however – that is taken care of by the current 10 per cent kept aside for Botswana and earlier efforts to help set up manufacturing there. The shift of DTC’s entire operations signals the end of an era and the beginning of a new one – with the diamond sun setting over Brittania and rising over Africa.