The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday grilled the Kao Mine over unpaid dividends to the government of Lesotho since 2014. When appearing before the PAC, Kao Diamond mine had to answer questions from the PAC members as to why they have failed to pay the dividends dating back to 2014. The PAC Chairperson, MP Selibe Mochoboroane said it had come to the PAC attention that the mine had not been paying dividends and therefore demanded to know the reason for not paying. He also demanded to know the history of the Kao Mine's production history since 2014 to date to determine if it has been unable to oblige or failed to pay dividends due to negligence or inability to make profits.

In his response, Robert Cowley, Chief Executive Officer of the Namakwa Diamonds, which owns majority shares of 75 percent at the Kao Mine, said in 2014, the mine was able to produce over 2000 diamond carats which were sold for over M886 million.  “The operation cost made at the same year was M518 million and the company made a profit of M69.5 million. In 2015, the company was able to produce 22,484 carats which was sold to the tune of M925.3 million while the operating cost made was M616 million, but we ran a loss amounting to M197 million,” he explained. He said: “The following year, the company produced 11,397 diamond carats and collected revenue sales of M608 million while the operating cost was M54 million. But we ran a loss of M230 million. In 2017, there was 167,751 diamond carats produced which were sold to M783,6 million while the operating costs were M216 million, making the profit of M136,5 million in the process.”