De Beers softens deals

Mining

In a rare turnaround, De Beers has made major concessions to the Angola and Namibia governments for exploration and mining rights in the diamond-wealthy countries. In Angola the most significant concession is that Endiama, the state-owned diamond company, will have the majority interest in diamond mines developed by De Beers, while in Namibia De Beers' profit share will reportedly be reduced by 20%. De Beers traditionally takes a controlling interest or runs its mines on a 50-50 partnership with governments, such as Debswana in Botswana and Namdeb in Namibia. De Beers has also accepted that it will not recover all the concessions it formerly held in Angola, but will share some with such newcomers to Angola as BHP Billiton, Trans Hex and Lev Leviev. De Beers believes Angola is Africa's most exciting territory for the discovery of new diamond deposits.

Copyright International Communications Jun 2005
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