De Beers envisages finalizing its talks over a sales agreement with the Botswana government soon, CEO Al Cook said after meeting with the country’s new president, Duma Boko.
“We see the negotiations concluding in days and weeks, not months and years,” Cook said in a video Botswana-based The Projects Magazine published Thursday. “We are getting to the point of the technicalities in the agreements — dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. So we are very positive about that.”
De Beers and the southern African nation are in ongoing negotiations about a contract governing the miner’s access to the country’s rough-diamond production. Cook made the remarks after his first formal meeting with Boko, who succeeded Mokgweetsi Masisi as president two weeks ago.
Boko recently questioned Masisi’s method of negotiating the final contract, which had still not been signed over a year after the parties agreed to a provisional deal. The new president has stressed the need to reach an agreement as soon as possible.
“Both sides are very confident that we will reach alignment on those agreements very shortly,” Cook added in a separate video The Projects Magazine posted the same day. “The teams are actively negotiating, and I said to Mr. President that we felt that renewed energy in the negotiations.”
The parties also agreed they would “stand shoulder to shoulder” in marketing natural diamonds, Cook said.
Image: Al Cook. (De Beers)
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