Petroleum / Mining in Botswana
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BOTSWANA, 2017/07/19
In the mysterious world of diamond mining, it turns out that some stones are too large to sell.
Canada's Lucara Diamond Corp will have to cut its tennis ball-sized rough diamond to find a buyer, industry insiders say, following Sotheby's failed auction for the world's major uncut stone last summer.
It's not the ending that William Lamb wanted for his 1,109-carat stone, named 'Lesedi La Rona', or 'Our Light' in the national language of Botswana where it was mined.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/07/17
Tanzania’s president John Magufuli last week left mining houses reeling next signing into law a set of bills that would radically alter the playing field.
The new laws allow the country to renegotiate all of its current mining contracts, increase royalties, and partially nationalise mining projects.
“The laws as well deny the rights of mining companies to seek international arbitration and relief in the event of a dispute with the government,” reports The West Australian.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04
Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1.
Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year.
The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11
Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
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BOTSWANA, 2015/12/03
The waste pile from Debswana’s Jwaneng diamond mine is visible for miles across southern Botswana’s wide, flat plains.
Additional than a billion tonnes of dirt have been dug up there over additional than 30 years of excavations. It is the richest diamond mine in the world, and it has been central to Botswana’s economic evolution since independence.
The neighbouring township of Jwaneng, with its modern hospital and well-staffed school, is a diamond town built by the mine and almost entirely dependent on it for its gain.
This dynamic is a microcosm for the country as a whole, and stands in contrast to the poor development track records of other extractives-based economies across Africa. Presently the challenge is to capture additional price in country.
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BOTSWANA, 2015/11/26
A 1,111 carat “high quality diamond” has been discovered at a mine in Botswana, said to be the biggest find in additional than a century, according to the mine company, AFP reports.
The gem, only second in size to the Cullinan diamond which was unearthered in South Africa in 1905, was mined by Lucara Diamond Corp.
“The magnificent stone, which originated from the south lobe of Lucara’s Karowe Mine, is the world second major gem quality diamond ever recovered and major ever to be recovered through a modern processing facility,” the Stockholm listed company said a statement.
Shares in Lucara shot up 34 % to 14.2 kronor in morning Thursday trading in Stockholm.
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BOTSWANA, 2012/12/25
World gas request is projected to reach 3,460.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 3,341.4 bcm in 2012. North America's gas consumption is estimate to reach 890.3 bcm in 2013, equivalent to 25.7% of world request. It would be followed by Asia & Australia with 720.8 bcm (20.8%), Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States with 587.4 bcm (17%), Western Europe with 533 bcm (15.4%), the Middle East with 445.7 bcm (12.9%),
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BOTSWANA, 2012/12/19
“Even in the absence of the world economic downturn, we would be living through challenging times as we wean ourselves away from overdependence on raw diamond revenues”, proclaimed Botswana’s President Ian Khama in his National of the Country address this November. “Dependency on anything is never healthy.”
President Khama was not wrong, not least because Botswana’s diamond resources, which account f
