Leading diamond producer De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer said on Tuesday that the firm anticipated that it would receive the mining right for the AK6 project, in Botswana, in the near future.

In an interview with Mining Weekly Online in Gaborone, he said that De Beers and its partners were busy negotiating the "fiscal regime" for the mining right, and expected this to reach completion very soon.

Botswana's government does not have a set of concrete criteria for mining rights, but negotiates each project's fiscal regime with the applicant.

The other partners on the AK6 project were London-, Botswana-listed African Diamonds, and Debwat, a venture between De Beers Prospecting Botswana and a private Botswana company, Wati Ventures.

AK6 is projected to ramp up to full production in 2011 or 2012, and would produce up to one-million carats a year of high-value gem-quality diamonds.

African Diamond said in December 2007 that it expected a final decision on the AK6 mining licence early this year, which would pave the way for diamond production to start towards the end of 2009.

Botswana produces more diamonds than any other country, with the bulk of its production coming from the government/De Beers joint-venture company, Debswana, which currently produces some 33,6-million carats a year.

Debswana's diamonds would go to the new Diamond Trading Centre (DTC) Botswana, also a De Beers/government venture, for sorting and valuing.

Meanwhile, production from AK6 would probably get sorted and valued at nearby Orapa House, which housed DTC Botswana's predecessor, the Botswana Diamond Valuing Corporation, owned by De Beers.

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