Africa-Press – Botswana. A spirited campaign by Botswana to fend off the threat of lab-grown diamonds that nearly snuffed life out of the ethically sourced natural gems seems to have resonated well with some jewelers in the United States of America, which is the biggest market for Botswana diamonds by far.
Some retailers, especially those that sell jewelry made of natural diamonds said in an interview with BOPA on Saturday that they were impressed by the Botswana crusade led by President Advocate Duma Boko to engage consumers and retailers alike about the impact brought about by natural gems to the livelihoods of communities.
While at the JCK diamond show in Las Vegas, US, President Boko engaged and spoke passionately about the good that natural diamonds had done for communities across the world, including Botswana whose economy grew exponentially over the years, as a result of revenue accrued from diamonds.
Ms Anna Martin, the Gemological Institute of America’s senior vice president of institute and industry relations was happy that the campaign to differentiate between synthetics and natural diamonds would help to inject life back into the ailing diamond industry.
She stated that the education aspect of the campaign was long overdue. Ms Martin relayed that her institution, as the world’s foremost authority in the study of gemstones, both natural and artificial, was emboldened by the stance taken by Botswana, especially the moving speech delivered by President Boko last Friday at the Venetian Expo.
Ms Katie McGauley, the Founder and Designer at Belle Aquatic was equally excited about what Botswana was doing especially on the aspect of traceability and responsible mining, which she stated benefitted everyone right from the mining of the stones to the ultimate seller of the final product.
She, like many lovers of natural gems was driven by the magic of nature that came with natural stones and the fact that natural diamonds were special pieces people could have forever and a true symbol of love and affection.
To further ramp up the campaign to promote organic diamonds and their good cause, Debswana Managing Director, Mr Andrew Motsomi said the corporation had resolved to start operating mine tours so that retailers could have first-hand information about diamond mining in Botswana.
“This will help us drive our agenda to promote Botswana natural diamonds against the threat of lab-grown diamonds,” he said.
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