Botswana diamonds book launched

This is the second book he has written and published; his first book, Crocodile Pools Botswana - History and Biodiversity, was published in 2011 and tells the story of a little known area just 20 minutes drive south from Gaborone and which is steeped in natural and military history and has a great diversity of fauna and flora.

In his latest offering the 11-chapter book, the first of its kind, is dedicated to the story behind Botswana's diamond success, it follows the diamond from "Mine to Finger", or "Rough to Store", in what is known in the diamond business as the "Diamond Pipeline".
It addresses revenues derived from diamond sales that have spearheaded Botswana's economic growth and development since independence, and how Botswana has transformed from being one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world to a middle-income economy. The book proved popular as most guests bought copies upon arrival.
In his speech, Brook said Botswana has now developed a full and continually expanding diamond pipeline, encompassing the stages of diamond prospecting and evaluation, mining, processing and recovery, sorting and valuation, sales and marketing, cutting and polishing and finally diamond jewellery manufacturing and retail. "The last few years have seen tremendous growth in the beneficiation of Botswana's diamond industry, involving the expanded development of the downstream stages of the pipeline, thus benefiting Botswana and Batswana substantially," he said.
Born in  Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (UK) Brook first arrived in Botswana in 1980 to work as a bush diamond prospector for De Beers Prospecting Botswana. He completed a Masters Hydrogeology Degree at Birmingham University.
He would later establish a new groundwater division in the Civil Engineering Department of the Anglo American Corporation where he provided technical hydro geological support to Anglo American, Debswana and De Beers mining operations.
He also worked in the Middle East. The author has also  worked as a hydro geologist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2007, he and his family left Dubai for his current position as Group Hydro geologist with the Debswana Diamond Company, Botswana.