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Company Response

1 Sep 2009

Author:
De Beers

De Beers response to Benchmarks report

We are...concerned by the distorted and inaccurate depiction of the diamond industry’s contribution to community development in Botswana presented in the Bench Marks Foundation’s report...The key criticism made by the BMF is that Debswana’s operations have not generated benefits at a community level in Botswana. This is not the case. Debswana is widely recognised as one of the most successful Public-Private Partnerships in the world...with [about] 80% of all gross profits realised by Debswana going into government revenues. As such Debswana’s direct contribution to community development in Botswana vastly exceeds even the most stringent benchmarks for social investment.