LAS VEGAS: The diamond industry’s foremost trade show kicked off here on Friday, amidst rising debate as to whether and how its most valuable and longest covenant will be renewed before the end of the month.

Both De Beers and government, whose fiveyear-long talks for a new sales agreement are set to elapse on June 30, have sent high-powered delegations to the US desert city. Since the current agreement elapsed in September 2020, both sides have agreed on temporary extensions and technically, could decide to postpone the June 30 deadline.

However, the fervour around the top secret talks has reached a crescendo this year, with President Mokgweetsi Masisi detailing the principles of what government negotiators are pushing for, namely greater, sustainable value beyond simply mining diamonds. Government’s plan to take up a 24% stake in Belgian diamond maverick, HB Antwerp, has also been read as a signal of the direction the state wants to take in accessing greater values in the diamond downstream.

The JCK Jewellery Show annually attracts thousands of the global diamond industry’s stakeholders, up and down the value chain, to both showcase their products and more importantly debate trending issues in the sector.

While not officially on the agenda, the talks between government and De Beers are expected to be on the lips of many delegates, as Botswana is the world’s diamond single most important actor, accounting for a large percentage of annual production and a growing proportion of cutting and polishing activities.

The closely-guarded De Beers/Government of Botswana sales deal is one of the global diamond industry’s most valuable covenants and delays in finalising the talks have unnerved a broad ecosystem that includes contractors, sightholders, factories, retailers, financiers and others.

This year, more than 30,000 industry professionals from 130 countries are participating at the JCK Show, including high-level delegations from both government and De Beers.

Speaking in Mmadinare last week, Masisi doubled down on government’s position around earning greater revenues from the De Beers partnership, particularly by accessing downstream values. “If you look at the agreement that’s there, that agreement restricts you to rough diamonds and you have to determine that you will move out of that,” Masisi said. “That’s where we are. We are talking to each other, we are determined and I have issued an instruction that it cannot keep being the way it was. “I refuse and I refuse on your behalf. “Even if we are litigated against for it, we refuse because the truth is that the returns from these diamonds must be for Batswana.”

He added: “You cannot engage a shepherd for your cattle for his expertise and he says the cattle are his. “He’s still a shepherd.” De Beers, meanwhile, has maintained a boilerplate public posture to the fervour around the talks, saying the global diamond group is seeking a ‘win-win’ arrangement that benefits both countries. “The teams’ relationships are very good, very cordial and very professional and I have absolutely no doubt that we will end up with a deal that makes sense for government, for Botswana and De Beers,” De Beers’ co-chair, Bruce Cleaver told Mmegi previously.

“We’ve been in a marriage for a long time and we are going to continue being in a marriage for a long time.” Ahead of the JCK show, government struck a softer tone on the negotiations, noting that its position in the talks was informed by the transformational aspiration of adding value to diamonds. “It is not unusual for agreements to be renewed on new terms and conditions (and) it can only be a stretch of the imagination to believe that by re-negotiating expiring contracts, Botswana is then closing its doors to investments,” reads a statement from the Ministry for State President released earlier this week.

“The negotiations between government and De Beers are ongoing and we are confident that they will result in a deal that will benefit both parties.”

The statement added that the equity deal with HB Antwerp should not be seen as replacing or affecting the partnership government has with De Beers. The JCK Show runs from June 2 to 5.