Working Paper
Resource rents in the diamond industry 2014–19

The focus of this study is rent in the diamond industry. Based on extensive datasets and a discussion of all relevant costs, we present resource rent statistics from the diamond industry in key producer countries in emerging economies such as Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa, as well as the Russian Federation.

Resource rents give an indication of the available space for taxation. To use this potential tax space effectively in the long term without changing the investment behaviour of the mining companies and the long-term viability of the industry, all costs, such as environmental and financial costs, must be included.

The study attempts to expand on earlier work by the World Bank to calculate mineral rents for mining industries other than the diamond industry. Rent calculated as precisely as possible is an important basis for wealth calculations and for mineral policy development.