JOHANNESBURG, Aug 12 (AFP) - Diamond mining giant De Beers said Monday it will give anti-AIDS treatment to all its workers, becoming the second major South African company to announce such a plan within a week.

"De Beers has taken the decision to introduce anti-retroviral treatment. ...This will be a global programme available to all De Beers permanent employees as well as a spouse or a life partner," it said in a statement released in Johannesburg.

"This is a global programme which will have its main focus on South Africa, but will be extended to all De Beers employees around the world," De Beers spokeswoman Tracey Peterson told AFP.

Peterson said that of the company's 12,000-strong workforce in South Africa, some 10 percent, or about 1,200 employees, were estimated to be HIV positive, based on a company survey done at end of last year.

The treatment will be offered as a pilot programme for the first two years, after which De Beers will review its position "with a view to the dynamic environment of continuing and possible government intervention," the company statement said.

Peterson said that Debswana has already implemented an anti-retroviral programme in Botswana and, in Namibia, the Namdeb company would propose its own programme by the end of the year.

De Beers own a 50 percent share in Debswana and Namdeb, and the two countries' respective governments control the rest.

The company will pay out an estimated 25,000 rand (about 2,400 dollars/euros) per year per employee, she said.

Two of the key components of the programme centre on AIDS awareness and education programmes and access to free voluntary couselling and testing.

But Peterson said the company believed that initially only a small number of employees will take up the offer.

"The takeup rate is generally quite slow" as people are hesitant to disclose their HIV status for fear of stigmatisation, she said.

Gary Ralfe, De Beers' managing director said he believed the programme would help set an example for other companies.

"We hope our decision will encourage others considering similar interventions in their fight against HIV/AIDS," Ralfe said in the statement.

The diamond giant is the second major South African company to announce anti-retroviral treatment to all its employees, following a similar statement by its associate company Anglo American last week.

Anglo American owns a 45 percent stake in De Beers, the Oppenheimer family 45 percent and Botswanan mining company Debswana the remaining 10 percent.

Anglo said it would roll out its programme "within weeks where we have the facilities, but take six to 12 months to roll out across the group."

Roughly 18,000 of the 90,000 people employed by Anglo in southern Africa are estimated to be HIV-positive.

South Africa has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world, with an estimated 4.7 million citizens living with the virus that causes AIDS.

In 1986, a study of some 30,000 gold miners showed an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 0.5 percent.

Fifteen years later, in 2001, it was estimated at 30 percent, according to the latest government figures.

Clem Sunter, chairman of Anglo's Chairman's Fund, said research has shown that giving AIDS treatment would be cheaper than the loss of income through absenteeism, hospitalisation, funerals and replacing and retraining staff.

Some mines, like Lonmin Platinum in the country's northwest province, have enlisted the help of prostitutes who undergo regular testing and are encouraged to tell their clients of the dangers of the disease.

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