Diamonds still dominate mining

GABORONE — A Statistics Botswana report titled Index of the Physical Volume of Mining Production Fourth Quarter 2021, revealed that Botswana’s Index of Mining Production stood at 82.0 during the fourth quarter of 2021, showing a year-on-year growth of 28.1 percent, from 64.0 registered during the fourth quarter of 2020. The main contributor to the increase in mining production came from Diamonds, which contributed 23.1 percentage points. The report shows that diamond production increased 1, 038 thousand carats from 4, 290 thousand carats during the fourth quarter of 2020 to 5, 329 thousand carats during the same quarter of 2021. “The increase was a result of intensi ed production strategy aligned with stronger trading conditions,” says the report. “The quarter-on-quarter analysis shows that production registered a decrease of 18.0 percent (1,172 thousand carats) during the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with 6, 500 thousand carats during the third quarter of 2021.” — The Botswa