Alexkor is a South African unincorporated

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

diamond mining Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

company that falls under the

Department of Public Enterprises The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) is one of the ministries of the South African government. It is the government's shareholder representative with oversight responsibility for a number of state-owned enterprises (SoEs). Enterprises It ...

. It was previously a state-owned enterprise, when in 2007 it entered a government-funded pooling and sharing joint venture with the

Richtersveld The Richtersveld is a desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in the north-western corner of South Africa’s Northern Cape province. It is full of changing scenery from flat, sandy, coastal plains, to crag ...

community. The company's core business is diamond prospecting and

seabed mining Seabed mining, also known as Seafloor mining is the recovery of minerals from the seabed by techniques of underwater mining. The concept includes mining at shallow depths on the continental shelf and deep-sea mining at greater depths associated w ...

along the north-west coast of the

Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

of South Africa up to the border with Namibia. It was founded through the proclamation of the Alexkor Limited Act, No. 116 of 1992 (amended by the Alexkor Amendment Act, No. 29 of 2001). The company mines both land and coastal deposits for diamonds. In 2003 mining activity by the company had decreased significantly due to losing a land claim in ''Alexkor Ltd v Richtersveld Community'' instituted by the Richtersveld community in the area surrounding Alexander Bay. This resulted in the company generating substantial losses between 2005 and 2009 and in turn lead to it accruing a debt of R275 million (US$41.4 million) in 2012 and receiving a R350 million bailout from national government in 2011. The company reported the production of 41,941 carats of diamonds in 2018 generating R409 million in revenue and R34 million in profit. The company was involved in corruption allegations involving the

Gupta family The Gupta family is a wealthy Indian-born family with business interests in South Africa, whose most notable members are brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupta—as well as Atul's nephews Varun, and US-based Ashish and Amol. The family ow ...

resulting in it being investigated by the

Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State, better known as the Zondo Commission or State Capture Commission, is a public inquiry established in Janua ...

. In April 2022 the Zondo Commission recommended that the company's executives and chairperson be investigated for fraud and other corrupt activities involving Gupta connected companies.

References

{{reflist Government-owned companies of South Africa Companies based in Johannesburg Corruption in South Africa Diamond mining companies Economy of the Northern Cape