Tonderai Katswara
25 April 2008
Windhoek — GOVERNMENT is ready to make the most of the country's mineral resources to boost the economy, a top Government official told The Namibian yesterday.
Minister of Mines and Energy Erkki Nghimtina said a shareholders' agreement currently under negotiation between Government and De Beers would totally turn things around for the better of the country.
He said the new agreement, scheduled to be signed next month, would see Government owning 50 per cent of all diamond ventures, like those of De Beers Marine in which Government now has only a 30 per cent shareholding.
"A few issues are still being finalised in the negotiations, but the new agreement will restructure the whole deal, which was totally skewed in terms of profit generation.
With the new structure in place, everything will be 50 - 50.
"It will be a simple, clear and proper agreement.
A fair deal which should see us (Government) getting our equal share.
The negotiations are going smoothly; all the parties are on the same page," said Nghimtina.
Government and De Beers are equal joint partners in Namdeb, NamGem and the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC), which was created after the finalisation of the latest sales contract agreement signed by the two parties early last year.
The NDTC was established to improve local value addition of diamonds mined here.
Earlier yesterday, Nghimtina officiated at a ceremony where the NDTC presented the Ministry of Mines and Energy with its first dividend cheque - N$25 million.
The NDTC, which started its operations last year, has 11 siteholders, which are local diamond cutting and polishing companies.
NDTC Chief Executive Officer Shihaleni Ndjaba said to date the company had supplied N$500 million worth of rough gems to its siteholders.
He said all 11 companies were now operational, and the NDTC aimed at supplying some N$1,4 billion worth of rough gems next year, which should increase to N$2,1 billion by the year 2010.
At the start of operations in October last year, NDTC had six established siteholders while the others were yet to set up shop in the country.
Ndjaba said the diamonds for sale were not only Namibian diamonds from Namdeb - some of them came from De Beers' DTC selling arm in London.
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