The world's top diamond producer De Beers and the South African government will form a new black-controlled diamond mining company, they said on
Friday.

The new company, which might later be listed on the
Johannesburg stock exchange, would combine the assets of state mining group Alexkor and the Namaqualand mine unit owned by the South African unit of De Beers.

To help forge the new firm, De Beers would give a 20 percent stake in Namaqualand Mines - which last year produced one million carats - to South Africa's mining ministry at no cost to the government.

De Beers said it would not operate the new unnamed company and would dilute its stake over time. Both Alexkor and De Beers' Namaqualand are involved in mining diamonds on South Africa's north-west coast.
full story from Business Report here