Today’s guest is James Campbell, the Managing Director Of Botswana Diamonds, a diamond exploration and development company operating in Botswana and South Africa.

James has spent over thirty years in the diamond industry in a variety of roles, and so has accrued during his experiences, a vast and fascinating wealth of knowledge, some of which he’ll be sharing on this week’s episode. The diamond industry is one of the lesser-known, and so this conversation will prove an insightful and endlessly interesting journey into and around the diamond industry.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

James is drawn to diamonds on an emotional level. To him, diamonds represent all that’s good about humanity. Diamonds are the ultimate gift of love; the ultimate expression of love.
The assessment and exploration of diamond resources is one of the most technically challenging in commodity and resource development. To work in the sector, and to be successful, it is incumbent on operators to be experienced and knowledgeable.
In diamonds, you have three different variables that must be measured:
- Volume
- Mass of the deposit
- Grade - measured in karats per 100 tons
Diamonds are not just for cosmetic use. They are also used for cutting tools (diamond dust), and are currently being used in computing (conductors). This means that diamonds are in ever-increasing demand.
Fifty percent of the world’s diamonds are typically sold in America. Fifty percent of those are typically sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The economy there under Trump is doing extraordinarily well, and this is being reflected in the uptake of aspirational items.
At the moment, Botswana Diamonds are focussed purely on Southern Africa: South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. These are all relatively close to BD’s base in Johannesburg. James is the sole permanent employee of the company, and sees Southern Africa as the most prospective area in the world for diamond development.
The two major countries for diamond development outside of Southern Africa are Russia and Canada. Russia contains the second-largest diamond mine in the world. Canada contains explorations by De Beers and Mountain Province. Also, Canada’s Toronto Stock exchange is extremely robust.

.BEST MOMENTS

‘Diamonds are the ultimate expression of love’

’The diamond market is cyclical, but the diamond market is not just one market’

‘As economies grow, so too does the demand for diamonds’

‘Like any mining environment, many of the jobs will be commoditised’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Dig Deep – The Mining Podcast on iTunes

James Campbell LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesahcampbell/?originalSubdomain=za

Botswana Diamonds - http://botswanadiamonds.co.uk

ABOUT THE HOST

Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight to peoples experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.

Rob is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first world to third world countries from Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia. We source, headhunt and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients organisation in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace.

CONTACT METHOD

rob@mining-international.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/

www.mining-international.org

https://twitter.com/MiningConsult

https://www.facebook.com/MiningInternational.org

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC69dGPS29lmakv-D7LWJg_Q?guided_help_flow=3

Diamonds Are Forever – with James Campbell of Botswana Diamonds 46:02 Share

Dig Deep – The Mining Podcast Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

Diamonds Are Forever – with James Campbell of Botswana Diamonds