Gem Diamonds hopes Botswana government will halt inappropriate diamond sales

The election of Botswana President Duma Boko could result in inappropriate sales of diamonds being stopped in Botswana, said Clifford Elphick, CEO of Gem Diamonds. Elphick said high value goods produced by the firm’s Letšeng mine in Lesotho were being undercut by a competitor in Botswana.

“We saw extraordinary results out of Botswana. For our particular business that may have an impact because we are in the business of selling large diamonds, and we have a view that some inappropriate sales out of Botswana negatively impacted our goods,” said Elphick.

One of major competitors … is selling goods in an indiscriminate way that is hurting us,” he said. “Hopefully, the situation in Botswana sorts itself so we don’t have people undermining prices at our end of the market. We think that situation may, with a new Government, be reversed. It hasn’t yet happened but let us see,” Elphick added.

Shares in Gem Diamonds have fallen over 24% year-to-date as diamond market conditions failed to improve as initially expected.

Elphick said the immediate view of Thanksgiving polished diamond sales was that they were “pleasing”, but he cautioned it was too early to say definitively the market had turned. “It’s only 24 to 48 hours after Thanksgiving. Let’s see,” he said.