HRD Antwerp is setting up an agency in Gaborone, Botswana, to expand its commercial operations to the region. The company has appointed Werner Van Den Eynde as the agent for this venture. He will be designated as the official agent of HRD Antwerp –Equipment in Gaborone, and will be responsible for expanding the HRD brand and representing its commercial interests in equipment in Southern and West Africa - South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, DRC, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland.

The HRD Antwerp equipments to be promoted are: EOS, a semi-automatic machine for bruting and girdling diamonds; Octopus, the intelligent polishing tang; Avalon, a ‘smoothness’ visualisation device; Pendragon, a polishing mill; D-scope, a diamond microscope; and D-Screen, the world’s most compact diamond screening unit.

HRD Antwerp General Manager Georges Brys said "New opportunities have arisen as diamond manufacturing has become more widespread with the expansion of beneficiation in Botswana and Southern Africa. As our diamond equipment has a strong reputation on the African market, we felt it was imperative to provide custom-tailored services.”

Van Den Eynde will also offer technical training, advice and after-sales service. He holds more than 10 years of experience in diamond industry, with a past record as commercial executive of HRD Equipment’s headquarter in Antwerp for five years.