2015 in Botswana

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2015
in
Botswana

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The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Botswana .

Contents

Incumbents

Events

November

Related Research Articles

Botswana Country in Southern Africa

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected to Zambia across the short Zambezi River border by the Kazungula Bridge.

Economy of Botswana

The economy of Botswana is currently one of the world's fastest growing economies, averaging about 5% per annum over the past decade. Growth in private sector employment averaged about 10% per annum during the first 30 years of the country's independence. After a period of stagnation at the turn of the 21st century, Botswana's economy registered strong levels of growth, with GDP growth exceeding 6-7% targets. Botswana has been praised by the African Development Bank for sustaining one of the world's longest economic booms. Economic growth since the late 1960s has been on par with some of Asia's largest economies. The government has consistently maintained budget surpluses and has extensive foreign-exchange reserves.

Diamond Allotrope of carbon often used as a gemstone and an abrasive

Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. At room temperature and pressure, another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon, but diamond almost never converts to it. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are utilized in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth.

De Beers International corporation specialising in diamonds

De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and coastal. It operates in 35 countries and mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Canada and Australia.

Gemesis Inc. was a privately held company located in New York City. The company grew synthetic diamonds using proprietary technology.

Debswana Diamond Company Limited, or simply Debswana, is a mining company located in Botswana, and is the world's leading producer of diamonds by value. Debswana operates four diamond mines in the eastern and central parts of Botswana, as well as a coal mine. Debswana is a joint venture between the government of Botswana and the South African diamond company De Beers; each party owns 50 percent of the company.

Excelsior Diamond

The Excelsior Diamond is a gem-quality diamond, and was the largest known diamond in the world from the time of its discovery in 1893 until 1905, when the larger Cullinan Diamond was found. It was found on June 30, 1893 at the Jagersfontein Mine in South Africa, 130 kilometres south east of Kimberley whose fame as a diamond mining center always overshadowed that of Jagersfontein. It had a blue-white tint and weighed 971 old carats or 995.2 metric carats. The Excelsior rates as the fourth largest rough diamond of gem quality ever found. It was ultimately cut into ten stones weighing from 13 to 68 carats..

Jwaneng Town in Southern District, Botswana

Jwaneng is a town located in the Southern District of Botswana, but it is not part of this, being a separate district, with its own Town Council.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an extensive national park in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Established in 1961 it covers an area of 52,800 square kilometres (20,400 sq mi), making it the second largest game reserve in the world.

Letseng diamond mine Diamond mine in Lesotho

The Letšeng Diamond Mine, found in the landlocked Southern African kingdom of Lesotho, is owned by Gem Diamonds, Ltd. and the government of Lesotho, and at an elevation of 3,100 m (10,000 ft) it is the world's highest diamond mine.

Mmadikola Village

Mmadikola is a village in the Central District of Botswana. It is located in the western part of the district, close to Makgadikgadi Pan, and it has a primary school. The population was 828 in 2001 census.

Gem Diamonds

Gem Diamonds is a British-based global diamond mining business. It is headquartered in London and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2017, the company generated a profit of $20.8 million.

International Gemological Institute (IGI) is a diamond, colored stone and jewelry certification organization. IGI is headquartered in Antwerp and has offices in New York City, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Bangkok, Tokyo, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Los Angeles, Kolkata, New Delhi, Surat, Chennai, Thrissur, Ahmedabad, Shanghai, and Cavalese. Established in 1975, IGI is the largest independent gemological laboratory worldwide. It also runs Schools of Gemology in several locations around the globe.

Petra Diamonds

Petra Diamonds Ltd is a diamond mining group headquartered in Jersey. It has a diversified portfolio, with interests in eight producing mines in South Africa and Tanzania and an exploration programme in Botswana. Petra Diamonds' focus has shifted from exploration to production, becoming one of the largest independent producers of diamonds in Africa. In June 2012, Petra owns 5 of the world's most productive mines historically. These mines include the Cullinan Diamond Mine famed for having produced the world's largest rough and polished diamond. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Lucara Diamond

Lucara Diamond Corp. is a diamond exploration and mining company, founded in 2009 by two Canadian mining executives, Eira Thomas, Catherine McLeod-Seltzer and Swedish-Canadian mining billionaire Lukas Lundin, operating in Southern Africa but established in Canada. In November 2015, Lesedi La Rona, the world's second largest gem-quality diamond ever found, was found at the Karowe mine in Botswana.

Indian Diamond Institute

The Indian Diamond Institute (IDI) is a Government of India sponsored autonomous higher school of learning in the fields of diamonds, gems and jewellery in India. The Institute is located in Surat, Gujarat, India and is 263 km away from Mumbai. Indian Diamond Institute is an Authorised Assayer of Department of Customs, Government of India.

Lesedi La Rona

Lesedi La Rona, formerly known in media as Karowe AK6 or as Quad 1 by the personnel at the mine, is the fourth-largest diamond ever found, and the third-largest of gem quality. It was found in the Karowe mine, in Botswana on 16 November 2015.

The Sewelô diamond is the third-largest rough diamond ever found. The diamond was recovered in April 2019 by the Lucara Diamond Corp in its Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. The diamond is 1,758 carats and weighs 352 grams or 12.39 oz.

References

  1. Henderson, Barney (19 November 2015). "Second largest gem quality diamond ever found recovered in Botswana". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 6 January 2016.