Offshore mining is paying off in Namibia

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba said recently that his country expects to produce one million carats in offshore diamonds this year.

DeBeers' joint venture company along with the Namibian government, Namdeb, mined more diamonds offshore than on land for the first time last year.

Citing new technology, Pohamha said the country has been able to "focus attention on offshore mining as our diamond reserves on land gradually decline."

Of the 1,774,409 carats that were mined in 2005, 922,000 were mined offshore.

Namibia is the seventh largest diamond producer in the world.

DeBeers has ...

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