The Botswana government and the De Beers Group have extended by a year an agreement under which a jointly owned diamond mine sells the bulk of its rough gems to the global giant.
In a statement on Wednesday, De Beers said the extension would see the agreement being extended to the end of June 2023.
It said the decision to extend the agreement was taken following further positive progress made over the past six months towards a new pact.
The extension is meant to enable the finalisation of the ongoing discussions, the global diamonds giant said.
The 10-year rough diamond sales pact was initially signed in 2011 and was extended by a year when it expired in December 2020. It was further extended by six months and was due to expire on Thursday.
Under the pact, the joint venture mine Debswana sells at least 75 percent of it rough diamond output to De Beers.
Botswana is one of the world’s largest diamond producers.
JN/APA