As the diamond industry looks to emerge from an extended slump that has impacted the economies of countries like Botswana, technology's impact in this process is one worth exploring. From robotics to tracing technologies to AI, emerging technologies have a role to play in the evolution of the diamond industry.
In this interview with BW TechZone, Mmetla Masire, managing director of Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), talks about the current state of emerging technologies in the diamond industry, what technologies ODC currently uses, how they technologies are contributing towards improving efficiencies, and more.
How do you envision emerging technology systems contributing to Botswana's economic growth in the mining industry?
The business of mining and the ability to stay competitive depends on your costs per unit. So, I believe that if you do not submerge yourself in existing or new ways of doing things or any new technologies, you run the risk of being overtaken and being less competitive. It's therefore very, very important that any new technology or any new solution or way of doing business is given a test.
What one needs to be careful of is adapting it fully as it is. This is because sometimes it might not provide the answers you're looking for. So, we need to delve into it and test it. Even if you put it on half or a portion of your activities. You don't have to just take your whole company and roll out layers and layers of new technology. You also have to allow for the mistakes to be sorted out. Most emerging technologies have some mistakes, that's why you have revisions.
So I don’t believe we should always be the first ones in the queue. But we need to be near the front. So that the others can find out their mistakes at their own costs. And the manufacturer or designer can fix those by the time we come in. So we're no longer on revision 0 or revision 1, but we come in at a revision where it has cleared most of the issues. I believe that it’s very important, but it is also risky. The risk is coming in too early when it hasn’t had enough tests and customer feedback on it.
Earlier in the year, you stated that ODC would introduce technologies to do diamond handling and sorting. Please share the progress of this initiative and the efficiencies the company hopes to get from them.
We have what we call a particle sizing machine that we’ve been working with BITRI on, and we’re also working on a similar machine with the University of Botswana. The BITRI prototype is finished. It will be tested as we move into the new facility. We decided not to construct it in the current facility because we should be moving in the next 2 or 3 months. So, we will deploy it when we move into the new facility then we can see how effective or how efficient it is going to be.
We’re also looking at a sorting machine which we’re doing with one of the Sightholder companies. It’s basically a company in India where we’re collaborating with them, and they’re sending their people this month to come and visit us and have a closer look at our challenges. We will also make a visit to India to go and appreciate the machine. So those are the two areas that we have decided to first focus on: the particle sizing and ensuring that we can produce identical lots of diamonds in the mix that we want them in, and also the ability to sort into the different sizes and types of diamonds.
The adoption of technology usually means less need for physical manpower, leading to redundancy of some roles. How do you plan to balance efficiency while also limiting redundancy?
In this case, we’re talking about highly skilled people and not mundane work. This is why we’re now removing mundane work. What does that mean? It means we can now improve our turn-around time because we can sort our diamonds quicker. It means we can now go to market much earlier and have returns, and that means we can settle our credit with the bank faster. So the efficiency will come out but we are not going to be losing anybody because we still need the human skill. This one takes away some of the mundane work out of their day-to-day lives, and then you have a stronger and healthier workforce, and possibly more motivated because they’re not doing mediocre and tiring type work.
ODC also uses its Galaxy system for grading and pricing. What advantage has the company derived from this technology?
We are using Galaxy and the Sarine scanner. They come from the same company called Sarine. We're using the smaller scanner at the moment. The Galaxy is a huge machine that requires major connections and gas etc so we have opted to install the Galaxy in our new building, but in our current building, we have had major movement in terms of the Sarine scanner that we have acquired. It has helped us get better definition of the stones so that our valuer can better predict or come up with a value, so the valuation process has improved. And we see that our own valuation is much closer to the market value. So we're quite happy that our valuation accuracy has improved.
What other technologies are in the pipeline that the company plans to introduce?
If we look at the general technology, we've enhanced our security systems quite a lot. In terms of scanning goods which come in, in terms of the search facility, in terms of our CCTV, basically, we've revamped almost all of our security systems to put them at the stage that gives us higher levels of data and security. So, that's really been a focus area. We have also decided to automate all of the processes in ODC, whether it's an application to visit, whether it's submitting your diamond application forms etc. And we're in the process of installing a new Enterprise ERP system at the moment. It's already been awarded so the project has been initiated, basically.
ODC cited a non-conducive market and weak customer demand as the reasons for cancelling auction sales this year. What operations has the Company put in place to leverage technology to try to enhance marketing and sales techniques?
Our biggest challenge has not really been marketing and sales techniques because, generally, as ODC, we have been able to sell all our diamonds. I think the challenge we have has been that the broader market is down, and the basic demand has really come right down. The challenge is factors like lab-grown diamonds. But what we're doing is not really technology-based. What we're doing has more to do with targeted and specific marketing. For instance, we’re now advertising and targeting the Millennial and Gen Z generations and utilising social media so that we're in a position where we can share the natural diamond story much better.
From a technology point of view, we're using various available tracing platforms. This allows us to track the diamond from the source to the customer. Now we're saying to the customer, "you can follow the journey of your diamond and see what benefit it is". That is a technology in itself. But, the key issue is to bring the originality of the diamond and the impact that it has into the hands of the consumer.
So that's really where we have been. It's not particularly high-tech in terms of how we're fighting back against the lab-grown diamonds market, but it's focusing more on targeting the right messaging on the right platform. As I said, we're now targeting even social media platforms and also doing collaborations with other players so that we send consistent and deliberate messages to customers. So that's how we've been pushing on that side in terms of how we’ve been trying to improve market status or situation.
Let’s go back to when you mentioned lab-grown diamonds. Some say that the production of lab-grown diamonds aligns with global sustainability goals and ethical sourcing trends. What opportunities and challenges has this presented for you?
It depends on what one means because a lot of the lab-grown diamonds are actually manufactured using fossil fuel, so the energy requirements are so high it is difficult to make most of them using renewable energy. Generally, they don't focus on that. There is an implication that because we mine the earth and we dig the diamonds, we're damaging the earth. But what are we doing with the tracing platforms? We’re showing why this whole provenance is very important so that the customer can see, first of all, what the diamonds have done for Botswana and the transformational nature that they have.
We are also sharing with them as part of the story because it will be linked to that, and it will be linked to the various websites and videos. They'll be able to see what rehabilitation work has happened and how sometimes the community looks better after mining than before mining because a miner has created post-mining programmes. So I think those are the kinds of issues we're doing to counter the message that the lab-grown people are selling out there. We tend to try and show the benefits and the good that the diamonds have done, and there's a living example called Botswana, in terms of what diamonds have done and you don't have to look very far.
If you could advise policymakers on AI, what would be your top priority to make Botswana a leader in AI innovation?
I don't know because all sectors of the economy would benefit from AI, so I'm not too sure which one would be a priority. I think what is important is for the country to first broadly accept and start engaging the various sectors to see where the quick wins. There has to be a deliberate policy at the government level, which will trickle down to ministries. The private sector in the particular ministries would then obviously be regulated.
If you go into the power sector, the ministry responsible for mineral and energy would have, at the highest level, government policy and government strategy, and the private sector would see how best to support and drive their initiatives in line with whatever the regulatory framework looks like. So, it is not about what is the priority for Botswana. Rather, the priority is that there should be a broader strategy that can be cascaded to the ministries.
I would say that is what is needed initially because that is what is going to stimulate people. For example, when the government came up with the integrated power-producing plan, it created a lot of excitement because the industry could see the route that the government was taking, and then they could align their own projects and proposals in line with that. They could now see that there was a plan and see what type of renewable energy the government wanted and when they envisaged it coming online. So that's key. The same would apply to artificial intelligence, where the government makes a bold position and the private sector and other foreign direct investors can now see that whatever they're putting in is going to get government alignment and support, or it meets the regulatory requirements.
Overall, how can Botswana’s diamond sector use emerging technology systems to set an example of sustainable and ethical business practices?
We talked about AI. This is something that, if we put out there, the tools will be able to share with the customer the diamond journey exactly like I had said. If you link it with the tracer and the origin, that AI will be able to show the customer and if the customer changes the parameters of what they're interested in, it would quickly be able to respond in real-time and show them exactly what is happening on the ground. So, immediately, the customer will be able to see that these diamond sources are professionally and ethically run.
Obviously, the customers would gravitate to that, and in doing that, it obviously lengthens the sustainability of the mine. It increases the appeal, so it’s an indirect form of marketing and giving the customer any information. That’s just one example.
In terms of us doing the work, like I have said, whether you’re talking about valuation, grading or sizing, these are all areas that lend themselves to AI use. I’ve already talked about reducing the workload by introducing machinery such as sorting machines and sizing machines. All of these are technologies, and a lot of them can do the job, but now, when you bring in the intelligence of AI, it can do more than just the job of sorting. You can then tell it what it should do when certain things happen. So now it will determine when you have mixtures that are too inconsistent and when the error rate reaches a certain percentage, you can tell it what to do.
Ultimately, that would increase the sustainability or the longevity of the project. So you find that the project can pay for itself or be productive for a longer time because you would have addressed most of the problems that you previously possibly not identified or been aware of, or it would have taken a long time to address them.
Do you have any words of advice you would like to share with our readers?
I like to use the word appropriate technology because adopting technology for the sake of technology and just chasing the latest trends without putting it through its paces is not beneficial. We need to find and test what really works for us because most of these technologies are designed under a different environment and for slightly different needs.
On paper, they might look like the same needs, but when we dig deep, the solution is tailor-made for certain use cases. For example, it might be tailor-made for the US environment or ecosystem. So I like to say you shouldn't photocopy, you should learn. Because if you just take it as it is and try and paste it here, it sometimes will give you problems. Then you must ask yourself if that is an appropriate technology for what you need and for the environment, and will it have the necessary support to implement it? You can have the best technology and put it here, but if nobody understands it and nobody can fix it, then you have a real problem. So you need to make sure that you look at the bigger picture and not just look at it from one dimension that it meets the specifications and it does the job, but as you start implementing it, you start to find yourself in very difficult spots because it is not properly supported or it might even be too complicated.
Technology is an interesting thing. Functionally it might be fantastic, but is it also operationally appropriate? That's a question one should ask themselves. For instance, if you're going to put something in the public domain, and half of your customers can't read or write, you might find that technology doesn't quite serve because for it to work, somebody has to be able to read. So this is why I say it needs to be appropriate for the environment so you can now decide if that in Botswana, unlike in America, most of the people who are going to use it are going to have a problem. So that’s why I prefer the term “appropriate technology”.
NB: Interview has been slightly edited for clarity.