De Beers (DTC) Sightholders: Eurostar Botswana Is Selected As One of 16 Diamond Trading Company Botswana Sightholders

November 2007 – Gaborone, Botswana - www.eurostardiamond.com – Eurostar Botswana has been selected as one of sixteen Sightholders of Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB), a 50/50 joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers. According to Kago Moshashane, Acting Permanent Secretary of the Botswana Ministry of Minerals, Energy, & Water Resources and a Director of DTC Botswana, about $360 million of rough diamonds, on the whole, are expected to be sold to DTCB Sightholders in 2008. The rough supply to DTCB Sightholders is set to grow to $550 million in 2009.

Part of Eurostar Diamonds International, a global diamond conglomerate with over $1 billion sales per annum, Eurostar Botswana is one of the leading diamond manufacturing companies in Botswana, having first received a DTCB Sight in 2005. The company is also a Sightholder of the Diamond Trading Company in London, which is part of the De Beers Group.

Eurostar employs 10,000 diamond experts globally, including 300 local Batswana who are all directly involved in diamond cutting and polishing. It has been reported by The New York Times that Eurostar Botswana is poised to become the largest diamond cutting and polishing factory in all of Africa and over $6 million has been invested by Eurostar Botswana already.

Mr Kaushik Mehta, Chairman of Eurostar Diamond Traders, remarked: "Botswana is not only a leader in the mining of diamonds, but is also poised to capture a leading position in the polishing of a broad variety of diamonds. Co-operating with local Batswana, we foresee an immensely bright future together - one that effectively empowers and rewards local Batswana for their dedication and contribution in building a brilliant reality with us hand in hand – as true partners and valued members of the broader global community.

Eurostar Botswana is key to our overarching competitive strategy and has been gradually building up a far-reaching impact in the diamond market worldwide. We are steadily on course to becoming the leading diamond cutting and polishing factory in all of Africa. Through our strategic distribution network, diamonds polished at Eurostar Botswana may already be found sparkling around the world from Bond Street to Ginza.

On a personal level, over 20 of the original first-generation diamond craftsmen recruited in 2004 are already training for future leadership positions at Eurostar Botswana. Witnessing their personal journey and remarkable progress within the Eurostar family is really very heart-warming to me, and in my view, this kind of growth is more important that solely bottom-line figures."

Eurostar is a leading supplier of fine polished diamonds globally with a clientele comprising the world's most prestigious watch and jewellery brands.

http://www.eurostardiamond.com