The nation of Namibia is located in southwestern Africa. It is bordered on the south by South Africa, to the north by Angola, to the East by Botswana and a sliver of Zimbabwe, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. This small nation is also one of the primary sources of gem-quality diamonds in world diamond production.
Diamonds were first discovered in the Namibia region in 1908 by Zacharias Lewala a railway worker under the command of his German foreman, August Stauch. At this time, the coastal area of Namibia was controlled by Germany after being obtained by the German merchant Adolph Luderitz. Following the discovery of diamonds along the coastal area north of the Orange River, the German government was quick to declare the region to be Sperrgebiet, or the ‘forbidden territory’. This effectively brought the diamond-rich area of Namibia under German government control.
After WWI, however, control of the region came under control of South Africa during the post-war settlement of Germany’s reparations and foreign land-holdings. This change of control, along with the selling of land to South African buyers occurred in 1920, two years after the end of the war.
Control of Namibia’s coastal mining concern was transferred from the various German mining companies, including the mining company begun by August Stauch, the railway-foreman-turned-wealthy-merchant, over to Ernest Oppenheimer. He brought Namibia’s nine separate mining companies together under one company, The Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa (CDM). By 1923, all of the mining rights in the Sperrgebiet were given exclusively to Oppenheimer’s CDM. This shifting of mining control did not slow the search for diamonds, however, with CDM increasing mining operations in the Namibian region.
Between 1908 and 1928, diamonds were found inland, as in other diamond-rich areas of Africa. However, in 1928 diamond loads were found along the coastal areas of southern Namibia, near the mouth of the Orange River, and offshore in Alexander Bay. These offshore diamond finds would prove to be an incredible boon for Namibia’s diamond mining future.
DeBeers was to come into play in Namibia’s diamond mining through the acquisition of various diamond concerns. These acquisitions and consolidation truly began in 1931 when DeBeers took over Anglo American Diamond Company’s interests in the CDM. With this move, DeBeers had a strong interest in the CDM, and continued to increase their control over the next forty years. By 1975 the CDM had come under control of DeBeers. However, CDM’s status as a DeBeers subsidiary holding was to change by 1990.
In 1990, Namibia declared independence, which, for DeBeers, meant that a government other than South Africa’s had to be answered to. This was accomplished when DeBeers and the new, independent Namibian government sat down in 1994 and came to find a mutually beneficial agreement. The CDM was done away with and replaced by Namdeb, a new mining consolidation that represented a business partnership between DeBeers and the Namibian government. This mining concern continued to focus its mining operations in the coastal region formerly known as the Sperrgebiet, or the ‘forbidden territory’, and the direct offshore area of this region.
There is a primary reason for the Sperrgebiet being the center of Namibia’s diamond reserves. The diamond-rich areas of the Namibian coastal areas and the off-shore waters are due to the Orange River. The Orange River serves as both a southern border between Namibia and South Africa, and the key to the size and type of the Namibian diamond deposits.
Beginning in the mountains of Drakensberg in Lesotho, near the eastern coast of South Africa, the Orange River runs across the southern end of Africa to the western coast, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. During this run, the river passes through some of the most kimberlite-rich areas of Africa. It is while passing through these areas that diamond-fertile soil is carried into the river and out into the Atlantic. As this has been going on for eons, large diamond deposits have been washed out through the mouth of the river. These deposits have then either settled on the ocean floor or have been washed back onto the coastal regions of Namibia.
The coastal plains of Namibia are extremely hostile climate areas. The vast desert of the western coast has made it difficult for anything to live in the hot, dry environment of the region. The lack of a large human population has allowed for diamond deposits to sit fairly untouched until the beginning of the 20th century. The hostile waters that sit off of this coast have also protected the marine diamond deposits from possible incursion by shipping and the settlement of ports until modern times. It was not until the 1950s that the large marine deposits of diamond began to be farmed due to the development of marine-mining technology.
In Namibia today, around 10% of their GDP comes from their vast diamond deposits. In recent years the nation has been making fiscal plans for a near future when it is believed that inland diamond reserves will grow thin, by around the year 2120. However, recent geological studies have indicated that the current inland coastal diamond reserves may prove to be larger than had been previously believed. In addition to this, the marine diamond deposits are still running strong and are believed to hold somewhere around 1.5 billion to 2 billion carats or more of diamond deposits. If this estimate is accurate, the Namibian marine diamond reserves would be the largest on Earth.
The most fascinating aspect of the Namibian diamond reserve is the type of diamonds that are found within it. About 95% of the marine diamonds found in the waters and along the coastal region of Namibia are gem-quality diamonds. This is a percentage that is far higher than the diamond reserves of other nations, as most diamond reserves produce an extremely high percentage of industrial grade diamonds.
The reason for the unusually high percentage of gem-quality diamonds can be traced to the source of the diamond reserves. As previously mentioned, the Orange River brings the diamonds to the coast, and it is the journey through the rough waters of the river that filters out most of the diamonds that would only meet industrial grade standards. By the time diamonds reach the coastal waters of Namibia, diamonds that have poor structural integrity (such as those that would fracture easily and so be only of industrial use) have long since been broken apart and never reach the mouth of the river.
Namibia has one of the most long-standing stable governments in Africa. On top of this, they have absolutely no foreign debt, as they have never taken loans from the World Bank or the IMF. With their domestic stability, their vast diamond reserves have been able to help build the nation’s infrastructure, and will continue to do so well into the future.
