Jwaneng — As the mining industry in Botswana expands, Debswana finds itself facing challenges of staff retention, especially regarding people with high-value skills.

Jwaneng Mine executives said on Friday that staff retention and attraction is becoming a big challenge for the world's largest producer of gem diamonds. Speaking during the commemoration of 25 years of the mine's existence, General Manager Balisi Bonyongo said: "Most crucially we need suitable skills to support the design and implementation of major capital projects as well as skills to plan for the development of underground mining." However, Bonyongo did not give figures of how many skilled personnel Jwaneng had lost to growing competition over recent months.

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