The representative of the Botswana government, the world's second producer of diamonds by volume after Russia, said that there is a need for promotion of natural diamonds, as opposed to synthetic.
Head of the Department of Mineral Resources of Botswana Nchidzi Mmolava (Nchidzi Mmolawa) told a mining conference last week that natural diamonds are real, and they do not occur in the laboratory.
"We would like to position the natural diamonds as something unique," - said Mmolava.
He added that synthetic diamonds would remain "cheap" product, and people will be looking for natural stones as something valuable.
At the same time, continues to Mmolava, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and De Beers have considered the situation in Botswana diamond cutting segment and concluded that the diamond beneficiation in this country will not be possible.
He noted that such a conclusion for him "amazing".
Mmolava said that Botswana has qualified cutters, but the problem is the reduced number of working hours.
"In Botswana, we are working fewer hours than other world diamond cutting centers. This is because we have our own holidays, and most of the employees in this segment come from India, Israel and so on, and they have their own festivals in countries where they came from this way, people work an average of 220 days a year (of the potential 240 days a year), and it is a significant difference ", -. Mmolava continued.
He also said that to improve productivity cutting and polishing workshops must enter a 24-hour work schedule, as is done in the mines.
"We agreed on the fact that most of these shops for diamond cutting, if not all, will try to increase the number of working hours for their employees, as soon as the markets will experience an improvement," - said Mmolava.
In Botswana, the remaining 20 companies operating diamond cutting, which in 2015 processed diamonds, worth about $ 502 million, compared with approximately $ 1 billion in 2014, due to a number of negative factors currently observed in the diamond industry.
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Sierra Leone reported that its diamond exports fell last year due to the Ebola virus, which ravaged the country and forced the miners to refrain from diamond mining operations.
AFP quoted the country's deputy minister of mines Ignosta Abdul Koroma (Abdul Ignost Koroma), who said: "diamond exports in 2015 amounted to 500 039 carats against 620,181 carats in 2014".
According to him, the value of exports fell by 30% to $ 154 million, versus $ 221 million a year earlier.
The Ebola virus, which ravaged Sierra Leone and other West African countries, is also affected an important country for the diamond industry. To reduce the spread of disease health services banned miners engaged in mining, reports AFP.
Sierra Leone is one of the leading manufacturers of diamonds, but its potential in this area is largely affected by the previously-concluded civil war.
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