Debswana Mining Company to shut down operations
Low demand is forcing the De Beers subsidiary out of business.
Andrew Friedman (AF)October 3, 2026
Equally owned by De Beers and the Botswana government, Debswana Mining Company will shut down a diamond mine in the country as weak demand and trade disruption from the pandemic make it unprofitable to mine diamonds of lesser value, a union leader said on Friday opposite Reuters.
Debswana, one of the largest diamond producers in the world, plans to close its Damtshaa mine in 2021 for a period of three years, said Joseph Tsimako, president of Botswan's Miners Union. "The mine produces inferior quality diamonds, which makes it expensive to dig during this time when the market is depressed," said Tsimako. The mine is one of four operated by the company and has an average annual production of 500,000 carats, 2.5% of Debswana's total production.
Their stones are of less value than those produced in the company's flagship Jwaneng and Orapa mines. The company will also indefinitely shut down a processing plant at the Orapa mine, Tsimako said, adding the union is now discussing the fate of up to 500 jobs at risk from the closings. The company and the union were discussing employee transfers to other mines or voluntary separation, the union chairman said. Debswana spokeswoman Agatha Sejoe said the company is still in talks and will issue a press release on the matter in due course. The landlocked country in southern Africa, used to an influx of international diamond buyers from Mumbai and Antwerp and traders from China, closed its borders in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Debswana, which supplies the country with around two-thirds of its foreign currency and contributes one-fifth to GDP, produced 12.3 million carats in the first nine months of the year, 29 percent less than in the same period in 2019. Its exports have also declined sharply . The authorities forecast an 8.9 percent decline in GDP and a doubling of Botswana's budget deficit in 2020.
