By Petronella Sibeene WINDHOEK Diamond cutting and polishing company LLD faces a huge diamond deficit and it is unclear as to when Namdeb will start supplying the 16 percent of diamonds it agreed to make available for local processing and value-addition. Presently, LLD each month cuts and polishes between 10 000 and 15 000 carats despite its capacity standing at 25 000, says its Production Manager Dror Shalev. Early this year LLD signed an agreement with government after De Beers announced that it would avail 16% of its production for local beneficiation. While LLD referred New Era to Director in the Ministry of Mines and Energy and also Diamond Commissioner, Kennedy Hamutenya, for comment about when government would start supplying the diamonds, Hamutenya directed the responsibility to De Beers that in turn referred this newspaper to the diamond commissioner. General Manager of LLD, Mike Nesongano, says the company has no choice but to wait and continue importing stones from Israel. He however described the exercise as costly to the company. The company sources its raw diamonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Samicor. Samicor Mining Services, owned by the Lev Leviev Mining Corporation, has a joint venture agreement with Canada-based Diamond Fields International (DFI) to carry out diamond mining operations on an equal basis on DFI’s marine mining licence located near LÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚¼deritz. In 2003, Samicor distributed some of its shares to local partners. With the distribution, the Namibian government owns 8 percent of Samicor, the National Youth Service (NYC) has a 10 percent shareholding while a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company, Long Life Mining, owns 2 percent. Samicor employees hold a further 4 percent of the company’s shares. The remaining 76 percent is with LL Mining Corporation BV Ltd. Once the company gets a sufficient quantity of diamonds, plans to open a jewellery factory in Namibia could be realised. In May 2005, Lev Leviev informed President Hifikepunye Pohamba that the company would open a jewellery factory in the next 12 months but given the deficit the plans have not materialized to date. “If we get the diamonds, the number of employees is likely to double. The company might also go into jewellery manufacturing with brand names of Namibia,” said Shalev. What started as a junior factory two years ago, the company under the circumstances has strengthened its human resources through training. With the number of employees in the polishing department standing at 300, at least 40 percent of them have graduated from just being mere polishers to the Very Good (VG or excellent) stage, said Nesongano. “We have artists and not polishers. It is encouraging to see that young Namibians are able,” said the assistant to the production manager, Marco Texeira. LLD Diamonds started as a training factory considering the then lack or scarcity of skilled people in polishing and cutting diamonds in Namibia. According to Nesongano, the company has been offering scholarships to trainees after which they undergo three levels of training before they become qualified to international standards. So far, 30 young Namibians have undergone nine months of intensive training and today can polish and cut the precious stones professionally. “We are in a process of employing or engaging 30 more,” he said. Most of those who apply for scholarships fall out during the induction course due to the IQ testing but those who qualify to the VG stage can work anywhere in the world, Nesongano added. During the period of training, starters or level one trainees get an allowance of N$600. Those who prove to be good graduate to level 2 where they obtain a certificate and get an allowance of N$850 while those on level 3 get N$900. According to the general manager, those who perform beyond the minimum target earn more than the “standard allowance”. Nesongano said employees in the VG department earn a minimum salary of N$2 700, which usually involves working on a minimum of 90 carats. Considering that workers are paid based on production, salaries can go as high as N$6 000 depending on one’s pace and production. The general manager was adamant that in the next few years employees would take home a salary of about N$10 000. While some members of the public and the labour union have accused LLD of dismissing its employees, Nesongano clarified that in most cases trainees who fall out would have not performed to the satisfaction of the company’s requirements.