predecessor de beers botswana mining company founded june 23 1969 1969 06 23 headquarters gaborone botswana area served worldwide products diamonds coal owner government of botswana 50 % de beers 50 % website debswana.com debswana diamond company ltd or simply debswana is a mining company located in botswana and is the world s leading producer of diamonds by value . debswana is a joint venture between the government of botswana and the south african diamond company de beers ; each party owns 50 % of the company . debswana operates four diamond mines in central botswana as well as a coal mine . contents 1 mines 2 history 3 production 4 income and profits 5 economic impact 6 criticism 6.1 human rights 7 see also 8 references 9 external links mines edit the mines owned and operated by debswana are diamond mines orapa diamond mine opened in 1971 letlhakane diamond mine opened in 1975 jwaneng diamond mine opened in 1982 damtshaa diamond mine opened in 2003 coal mine morupule colliery opened in 1973 history edit debswana offices in downtown gaborone debswana was formed as the de beers botswana mining company on june 23 1969 after de beers geologists identified diamond bearing deposits at orapa in the 1960s . over the next five years the government of botswana increased its ownership stake from an original 15 % to a full 50 % . on march 25 1992 the name of the company was changed to debswana diamond company proprietary ltd. the company s primary objective is diamond mining and associated processes . debswana operates the orapa letlhakane jwaneng and damtshaa mines . the four mines have contributed significantly to botswana s socio economic growth through diamond revenue transforming the country from an agriculturally based economy in the 1960s to a country that has consistently displayed one of the highest economic growth rates in the world . 1 production edit all diamond mining in botswana is controlled by debswana ; there are no private diamond mining operations in the country . combined production of the company s four mines totaled 30 million carats 6 000 kg nearly a quarter of the world s annual production of around 130 million carats 26 000 kg . the high value per weight of diamonds mined by debswana has made the company the leading producer of diamonds by value in the world . debswana is also the second largest producer by volume . income and profits edit year income billions us carats produced income chg yr . 2011 2 1.08 22 900 000 2012 2 0.7 20 200 000 35 % economic impact edit diamond mining activities have fuelled much of the growth in botswana s economy allowing it to grow from one of the poorest countries in the world when it became independent in 1966 to a middle income nation with 9 200 per capita income in 2004 . largely because of this botswana is considered by two major investment services to be the safest credit risk in africa . diamonds account for fully one third of the nation s gdp over 90 % of earnings from exports and 50 % of government revenues . debswana is the largest non government employer in the country employing approximately 6 300 people of whom over 93 % are batswana . debswana is also the largest earner of foreign currency citation needed . criticism edit human rights edit debswana has been criticised by the international indigenous rights organisation survival international for not respecting the human rights of the bushmen living in botswana . since the mid eighties survival international has published reports that the botswana government has conducted a campaign of harassment to drive them out and give way to mining exploration . louis nchindo former managing director of debswana has said the government was justified in removing the basarwa from the reserve it is sensible of government to take such action . otherwise who would always want to remain in the dark ages while others move forward . 3 according to stephen corry director of survival international the bushmen are not backward or primitive and their human and cultural rights must be respected . 4 see also edit diamonds as an investment economy of botswana references edit debswana . debswana . retrieved 23 january 2015 . a b govt revenues from debswana near p6bn . mmegi.bw . august 1 2013 . bushman land carved up for diamond exploration survival international survival and the bushmen of the central kalahari game reserve 39 questions this article incorporates public domain material from the cia world factbook document botswana . external links edit official website the de beers group of companies debswana profile on the business & human rights resource centre v t e anglo american plc subsidiaries and joint ventures anglo american platinum de beers 85 % debswana diamond trading company element six kumba iron ore 63.4 % palabora 17 % assets minas rio peace in africa snap lake diamond mine people cynthia carroll ernest oppenheimer harry frederick oppenheimer john parker other international council on mining and metals category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title debswana & oldid 734694228 categories companies of botswanadiamond mining companiescoal companies of botswanahidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2016wikipedia articles incorporating text from the world factbook navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschitaliano edit links this page was last modified on 16 august 2016 at 02 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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