The Botswana government and diamond miner De Beers Group have extended their existing agreement for the sale of Debswana’s rough diamond production by 12 months until June 30, 2023.

Following further positive progress towards a new agreement being made in the first half of this year, the two parties have agreed to the one-year extension to enable the finalisation of the ongoing discussions, De Beers said in a statement on June 29.

Debswana is jointly owned by De Beers and the Botswana government and operates four mines – Jwaneng, Damtshaa, Letlhakane and Orapa.

The operations produced 22.3-million carats of diamonds in 2021.