People/politician

Seretse Khama

Seretse Khama (1921–1980), politician, from Botswana. Linked to diamonds.

Legacy

First president of Botswana from independence in 1966 until his death. Diamond mining began with De Beers in 1971 and Orapa opened as a Debswana mine. Debswana is a 50-50 venture between government and De Beers Centenary. In 2003 diamonds were about 36 per cent of GDP.1,2

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1969De Beers Botswana Mining Company formed3
  2. 1971Orapa mine officially opened3
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Mines

LedOrapaOrapa opened in 1971 as a Debswana mine.1

Events

LedDe Beers Botswana Mining Company formedBotswana's first president and the 50-50 diamond deal with De Beers.1FoundedOrapa mine officially openedSeretse Khama is part of this story: Orapa mine officially opened.3

Sources

  1. Botswana (political geography) Encyclopedia.com (reprinting a publisher's reference work)
  2. Wikidata item Q219962
  3. Report to Stakeholders 2014 (key milestones 1967 to 2014) Debswana Diamond Company

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Ore sorting by Tomra Sorting GmbH, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kopermijn te Kolwezi in de provincie Shaba (Katanka), Mieremet, Rob / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).