Marriott International continues its robust expansion across the African continent with news of brand-new signings of new properties in Cape Town, Nairobi, Cairo and Mauritius. This announcement comes hot on the heels of Marriott’s recently completed acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which has created the world’s largest hospitality. The transaction has increased Marriott’s distribution in Africa, thus affirming the company’s number one position across the continent. “The past couple of weeks have seen an incredible transformation for our company, and I am proud to say that we are continuing the momentum with our expansion and development plans across the…
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Alrosa, the world leader in diamond mining, has announced rough and polished diamond sales results for September 2016. Rough diamond sales by ALROSA Group in September 2016 amounted to USD 435.1 million. Polished diamond sales over the same period totaled USD 18.9 million. Total rough and polished diamonds sales of ALROSA Group in September 2016 were at USD 454 million. “In September, as expected, we saw a good demand in almost all categories of raw diamonds. Sales results were significantly over our September 2015 figures,” says Yury Okoemov, ALROSA Vice President.
STEG International Services (STEG-IS) has partnered for the third time as platinum sponsor with the iPAD Rwanda Energy Investment Forum that will take place from 1-2 November in Kigali, Rwanda. The forum will gather investors, project developers, finance houses, construction and planning companies, technology providers from Rwanda, the region and from the rest of the world as well as high-level government representatives. The Rwandan Minister of Infrastructure, James Musoni, will once again deliver the welcome address during the opening session of iPAD Rwanda on 1 November. The third edition of the event continues to enjoy strong, official support from the state power utility REG, the Rwandan Ministry of…
The highly anticipated cabinet reshuffle by President Ian Khama has come and passed with a number of changes that have surprised many people. Analysts argue that the changes were done without looking at one’s capabilities or qualifications. One such shocker is the redeployment of Kitso Mokaila, who headed the ministry responsible for mining and energy. Mokaila, formerly with the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, is now the political head at Transport and Communications. He is replaced by Sadique Kebonang at the renamed Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security. The redeployment of Mokaila has shocked many as they thought…
Lucara Diamond Corp. has announced the dates for its second Exceptional Stone Tender of 2016. According to the owners of Karowe mine in Botswana, the viewings for the tender will take place from November 7 through November 16, 2016 with the sale closing at 4.00pm CET on November 16, 2016. The sale will include no less than 12 exceptional diamonds with a combined weight of approximately 1,100 carats. In addition, the Company is also pleased to announce the completion of the first stage of plant modifications to upgrade the Large Diamond Recovery (“LDR”) circuit to enable the processing of material…
De Beers, the leading global diamond producer said sales for the latest cycle were the lowest but still beat forecast taking into account the seasonality of the industry. According to the company, which is a diamond division for global mining major Anglo American, $485m was captured in the eighth sales cycle of 2016 as opposed to the actual $639m made in Cycle 7 2016. De Beers group chief executive officer, Bruce Cleaver however said even if sales were lower, they still beat expectations. “Demand for De Beers’ rough diamonds in Cycle 8 continued to reflect the improved midstream trading environment…
Botswana’s total exports have almost halved as trade in diamonds continues to falter, according to latest figures by Statistics Botswana. The agency’s International merchandise trade Statistics Monthly Digest for July showed that total exports were valued at P5, 101.9 million, which showed a decrease of 40.0% (P3, 396.9 million) from the June 2016 revised value of P8, 498.8 million. “This is attributable to decrease in exports of Diamonds which recorded a drop of 42.0 percent (P3, 166.1 million) from P7, 539.0 million recorded during June 2016 to P4, 373.0 million during the month under review,” Stats Botswana said. Diamonds that…
Botswana aviation industry experienced in a surge in passenger movement in the second quarter of the year as reported in the latest brief by Statistics Botswana. The agency’s Transport & Infrastructure Stats Brief for Q2 2016 noted that a total of 193,457 passenger movements were recorded, which was an increase of 21.3% from 159,256 passenger movements recorded in Q1 2016. According to Stats Botswana, 56.3% of these movements were international and the remaining 43.7% were domestic passenger movements. “Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, Q2 2015, international movements recorded an increase of 7.3% while domestic movements increased…
Hilton Worldwide has marked this year’s African Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) with the announcement of new properties and extensions in three African countries. It continues the company’s commitment to expansion across the continent as it seeks to double its footprint from its existing 39 hotels to more than 80 hotels in the next 3-5 years. Among the new hotels agreed is Africa’s first modular build hotel the 280 guest-room Hilton Garden Inn in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, a concept that Hilton first premiered in 2014 through a partnership with CIMC Modular Building Systems. Other deals see the creation of Africa’s tallest hotel…
Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, has announced the twelve winning entries of its annual photo competition. The winning photograph by Magda Zelewska is a stunning portrait of a Dani tribesman in West Papua – which appears on the cover of Survival’s 2017 “We, the People” Calendar. The winning entries give an insight into tribal peoples’ ways of life that are largely self-sufficient and extraordinarily diverse. The photographs feature tribal peoples from around the world – including many who Survival work with. The eleven runners-up, whose pictures also appear in Survival’s 2017 Calendar are: Simon Morris – photo of Nenets, Siberia, Forest Woodward – photo of Bushmen, Botswana,…