Jewellers to visit Botswana diamond mine

Posted September 20, 2011 | By Aaron Weinman

Select members from Nationwide Jewellers will inspect the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana in October.

Nineteen of Australasia’s leading diamond jewellers will investigate to the very centre of a mine co-owned by De Beers and the Botswana government.

Announcing the details of the trip in a press release, Nationwide’s director, Barry Jackson said “this is a unique opportunity to follow the path of diamonds from the mine, to the rough sorting facility and then to the cutting factory.”

Arranged for Nationwide by Tolkowsky Diamonds, the members will visit the mine, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) rough sorting facility and the Tolkowsky ‘Hearts and Arrows’ cutting factory.

“People who have been in the diamond industry for many years have not actually seen where diamonds come from, or experienced the full ‘mine to finger’ journey,” said James Maxwell, managing director at Tolkowsky’s London office.

He added that this experience would be beneficial for a diamond retailer’s knowledge of the product and industry.

Maxwell believes that the experience “will make them some of the very fewest members of the industry that have ever seen a diamond mine, reinforcing them as experts in diamonds.”

Typically De Beers does not open its diamond mine to retailers, but Maxwell says that Tolkowsky and Nationwide enjoy a strong relationship and were able to negotiate an exception with De Beers.

De Beers remain very discreet about the specifics, but according to Maxwell, security requirements for visitors are demanding.

“All visitors are pre-screened, and all belongings are surrendered at reception,” said Maxwell. “Specific footwear is also provided, to prevent any diamond bearing material leaving accidentally.”

Tolkowsky has long offered trips to its independent stockists, including a number of visits to Antwerp, the world’s foremost diamond-trading centre. According to Maxwell visiting the mine in Botswana is “merely a natural extension of this philosophy.”

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