Wanetsha Mosinyi
20 March 2008
Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) has finally opened.The state-of-the-art facility, which costs around P470 million, will process stones in excess of 36 million carats per annum and sell them to 16 Sightholders licensed in Botswana.
The 2008 Forbes' list of the world's richest people was released recently and DTCB and its sightholders have their fair share of representatives dubbed diamataires.
Recently, Mmegi reviewed last year's list and found that the diamond industry has representatives whose fortunes have increased while some lost ground in their rankings from the 2007 Forbes list.
The list includes Benny Steinmetz, Nicky Oppenheimer, Lev Leviev and Laurence Graff.
Leading the diamantaire, Nicky Oppenheimer, who was at the official opening of DTCB on Tuesday, is the man all the Sightholders will be getting rough diamonds from. He is now ranked 173rd on the Forbes list, from 158th last year.Oppenheimer (61) chairs De Beers, the diamond goliath. His net worth is now estimated to be $5.7 billion and is the richest man in Africa. His net worth was at US$ 5 billion last year.
Oppenheimer recently sold off a third of his family's interest in global mining giant Anglo American to Chinese billionaire Larry Yung with nearly $500 million in proceeds.
Last month, the Steinmetz Diamond Group (Ascot Diamonds) was officially launched by President Festus Mogae.
Chairman of the Steinmetz Group, 50-year old Israeli Benny Steinmetz, now ranks 296 on Forbes list, commanding an estimated value of US$3.6 billion. This is a huge leap from 583 last year's estimated $1.7 billion.
Steinmetz has diamond-manufacturing licences in Botswana and others in the Congo, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. Steinmetz is reportedly De Beers' largest customer. Laurence Graff is a Sightholder in DTC Botswana through Safdico (South African Diamond Corp.). Graff's net worth is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars, unchanged from last year. Safdico is already housed at the Diamond Technology Park.
Graff is the founder of the House of Graff in the heart of London's posh New Bond Street, and one of the most successful diamond merchants in modern history.
Graff's strategy of 'vertical integration' has been to control every angle of the diamond pipeline, from wholesale and retail, to purchasing a 51 percent stake in Safdico, a DeBeers Sightholder in Johannesburg, which gives him access to some of the finest uncut diamonds coming out of South Africa.
Graff has been dubbed the 'King of Diamonds,' and 'King of Bling' by Forbes Magazine, selling to the rich and famous from Elizabeth Taylor and Donald Trump, to Larry Ellison.
This Billionaire is neither involved with DTC Botswana nor DeBeers, but Lev Leviev is now ranked 227th from 210th last year. Despite losing rank, Leviev's fortune increased to $4.5 billion from S4.1 billion last year. The 51-year-old self-made billionaire, who lives in Israel, is the world's largest cutter and polisher of diamonds.
Once a De Beers sightholder one of the few exclusive direct buyers of De Beers's rough diamonds - Leviev is now the scourge of the giant diamond cartel, also known as the 'Syndicate.'
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