https://newsletter.mw.creamermedia.com

Botswana says pulled diamond sale wasn’t an ‘emergency’ auction

Rough diamonds

Photo by Creamer Media

7th October 2025

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

Botswana said an unprecedented ad-hoc diamond auction late last month — in which it didn’t sell any gems because the reserve price wasn’t met — wasn’t an “emergency sale.”

State trader Okavango Diamond Co. had offered about 1 million carats of rough stones in a “closed” tender on September 25. Bloomberg reported at the time that the aim had been to raise revenue for the government, whose economy has suffered from a slump in the global gem market.

The diamond world is grappling with one of its worst downturns in decades, amid a drop in Chinese demand and strong competition from lab-grown stones, while US tariffs have sown further uncertainty. Botswana is particularly feeling the pinch — diamonds account for about 80% of its export sales and around a third of government revenue.

On Monday, ODC said the auction wasn’t an emergency sale and was planned in advance. While it said that 95% of the companies registered for the tender submitted competitive bids, it made a “deliberate and prudent decision to withhold certain goods.”

“Withholding goods in the short term ensures better outcomes for the market,” ODC Managing Director Mmetla Masire said in a statement. “We will not join the race to the bottom on prices, our focus is on protecting the integrity and enduring value of Botswana’s diamonds.”

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

Alco-Safe
Alco-Safe

Developed to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (03/10/2025)
3rd October 2025 By: Martin Creamer
Magazine round up | 03 October 2025
Magazine round up | 03 October 2025
3rd October 2025

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.07 0.141s - 142pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now