Diamond firm contributes to government coffers

The Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC), handed N$60 million in dividends to the government at an event on Tuesday in Windhoek.

Namibia Diamond Trading Company, a joint venture between the government and the De Beers Group of Companies held its official dividend handover ceremony which marked the 11th dividend by the company to the mining ministry and De Beers as joint shareholders.
Since the joint-venture local diamond trading platform was incorporated in 2007, it has contributed N$1.5 billion in dividends to its shareholders, while just over N$2 billion was contributed to government covers in dividends and taxes.
Chief Executive Officer of the Diamond Trading Company, Shihaleni Njaba said, NDTC made this remarkable contribution despite having to deal with volatility in the global economy and in the diamond industry in general. Cognisant of the fact that the global economy is still not fully recovered, the market is currently stable and with that in mind, he assures shareholders and stakeholders of an optimistic outlook for the future of the diamond industry.
The CEO expressed the company’s commitment to fullfil its mandate of extracting the maximum value from diamonds for Namibia.
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Hon. Obeth Kandjoze at the event said, the government and its corporate partners have been working without tire, and in particular the contribution from NDTC will benefit many across the social strata by using the proceeds from diamonds to build roads, clinics, hospitals and schools with the view of improving the standards of living for locals.
He added that the diamond company continues to be a catalyst for local diamond beneficiation and that the two shareholders will continue to participate and build on good faith negotiations with the goal to ensure that more value is added to diamonds and to create a viable and sustainable diamond beneficiation sector.
“The ministry would like to guarantee our partners in the diamond industry on government’s commitment to promote and continuously lobby for sustainable growth, stability and viability of the downstream diamond industry through increased supply of rough diamonds to the factories. Continuous support by government will further strengthen the local skills base in diamond cutting, polishing, sorting and valuing,” he added.