Diamonds, Development, and Democracy

Abstract

Gaborone, Botswana, is the capital of a country which 40 years ago was ranked as the poorest in the world. Today, as one of the most successful economies in Africa, it could represent the continent’s future. Nowhere is that potential for the next quar ter century more graphically demonstrated than in a new glass and concrete structure in the heart of Gaborone. At this $83million state-of the-art facility, 39 machines com bining the latest software and precision op tical systems are the most technically ad vanced in the world for the sorting and valuing of Botswana’s most important re source and the source of its prosperity— gem diamonds. With Batswana technicians at the controls, they measure the color, quality, and shape of rough diamonds at speeds of up to 15 diamonds a second, or 30 million carats a year, with an accuracy and consis tency unequalled anywhere in the world. This facility is transforming Gaborone into one of the leading centers of the world dia mond industry and the largest diamond sorter in the world.