Botswana’s diamonds The World Bank says that adding value to precious stones is a dead-end street Should African countries be condemned to digging holes in the ground and exporting unprocessed oil, gold, iron and other natural resources? For the better part of a decade, the international community has advised African countries not to add value to their raw minerals, a process better known as beneficiation. But most African policymakers have refused to accept that this development model is sustainable. The World Bank has put considerable resources and research into trying to convince Botswana not to beneficiate its diamonds, Zambia its…
