DTC Botswana (DTCB) is planning a strategic overhaul that would enable it to process rough from producers other than Debswana.

The De Beers-Botswana joint venture has the capacity to sort 45 million carats a year but currently only handles Debswana’s production, which amounted to 22.3 million carats last year. 

The government owns half of DTCB, with De Beers holding the remainder. The organization cleans, sorts and values diamonds from Debswana — itself a 50:50 partnership between the miner and the state.

DTCB will use technology to improve efficiently and flexibility, managing director Sedireng Serumola said on December 2 at a dinner to mark the company’s 50th anniversary. It will focus on helping workers use data to make decisions and reducing the length of the pipeline, he added.

“With this transformational operating model, we will have the capability to extend our services beyond Debswana production and provide additional contract sorting services to other diamond producers,” Serumola explained. “Thus, DTCB is aiming to be more agile and responsive to future customer demands.”

The executive declined to offer further details on Wednesday when approached by Rapaport News for comment.

The company has chosen four strategic priorities — customer experience, technology and innovation, organization capability, and sustainability — and will seek opportunities to add additional revenue streams, Serumola told guests. This will “increase shareholder value by releasing between BWP 3 [billion and] BWP 4 billion [around $230 million to $310 million] during the five-year strategy period.”

The blueprint, first reported by Botswana-based The Projects Magazine, comes amid the country’s attempts to diversify its economy beyond diamond mining.

DTCB will partner with other institutions — as well as the diamond-beneficiation sector, which manufactures local rough — to develop employees’ skills, Serumola noted. This supports President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s “vision of transforming Botswana into a knowledge-based economy,” according to the executive.

The Gaborone-based sorting business began in 1972 as the Botswana Diamond Valuing Company (BDVC), processing Debswana’s production. In 2006, the government and De Beers agreed to form DTCB, which commenced operations in 2008.

Image: Rough-diamond sorting at DTC Botswana. (De Beers)