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| A diamond mine in Botswana |
Diamond is the most expensive mineral in the world. And most diamonds are found in a small country called Botswana. Now you can think, then this country can become very developed, it can be very developed and rich country like Kuwait or Qatar or Dubai.
But actually Botswana is not rich at all! The reason is that this diamond extraction system is really tough and very costly. As a result, the investors who invest and trade in mining, earn the most of the profits.
For example, the world's largest diamond trader, De Beers Mining Company, does almost all diamond mining and trading in Botswana.
So what they are doing is - gives 10-25% of the diamond price to Botswana and the rest is their profit. Another company Lucara gives 10%.
Now, despite the world's 100 billion dollar diamond industry, despite the booming business, Botswana remains a poor country due to the greed of capitalists. And for this reason, the stolen diamond industry has been standing on the blood of thousands of people for ages.
Age after age, decade after decade this system is running. Even not just Botswana, same thing is happening in developed countries like Canada!
De Beer Company has invested 1 billion dollars in Ontario, Canada and dug a mine and according to their agreement they will not pay a single penny to Canada until this 1 billion dollars is raised and after the initial investment is raised, they will think about how much percentage can be paid (10-25% Usual). rate)
Anyway, that's how it went on. However, one day this trend fell.
Once three Belgian-Israeli friends, Rafael Papismedov, Shai de Toledo and Oded Mansori, set out to stop this system. They met while dropping kids off at school and from there they started their startup – HB Antwerp
How will this company work? They will work directly with the diamonds producing countries. Will buy diamonds from them. Finally, they will keep only 20% of profits what they can sell in the retail market. The rest of the money will be given the government of Botswana!
On the other hand, De Bear or Lucara gives only 10-25%!
To that end, HB Antwerp brings their entire diamond supply chain under a blockchain like Bitcoin. As a result, their diamonds become part of the ethical sourcing and supply chain. No stolen or unethical diamonds are available to them. Absolutely 100% transparent!
This model was so successful that Botswana's diamond revenue increased. Even the government of Botswana bought 24% stake in this company! Last year the revenue of HB Antwerp was about 200 million dollars. It is expected to grow even more this year.
Most importantly, the government of Botswana began reviewing its contracts with De Beers. A new mining agreement was reviewed a few days ago, in which the government of Botswana will directly own 30% of the joint company and the revenue share will be 30% now, by 2050 it will get 50% or more.
This model has had such an effect that a few days ago, the world's largest diamond company, mother company Trader De Beer, was looking for customers to sell their De Beers.
But the success of this model poses the biggest problem for China and other colonial countries that extract minerals from Africa.
Especially Congo cobalt is one of the most talked about things in the world at this moment. Cobalt is very useful in making EVs and batteries that China brings in with very less price.
A few days ago Congolese President discussed with HB Antwerp and wanted to understand how this model works.
If in this transparent way, the rights of respective countries on their minerals and minerals of the world are established, then the colonial ruling countries will be in great danger.
At the same time, many economic inequalities in the world can be eliminated! Poor black Africans may see the sun soon! Their economy can be faster!
The main goal of any business is making profit, but if it also tries to improve people's lives and ethical place, it becomes a great business!
Let this model of HB Antwerp spread to the world! Let all have ownership and dominion over their own wealth. Let the colonial power go.
