Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge became Africa’s highest-ranking diamond administrator by serving as Chairman of the African Diamond Council (ADC). After celebrating 40 years in the global diamond industry this month, this experienced Mining Engineer and highly respected Senior Strategy Advisor acts as a professional liaison within the international diamond trade and is well-positioned to influence, both, the public and private sectors.
In 1986, the world's first Diamantaire of African descent successfully assisted to introduce Ideal & Super-Ideal Cut diamonds to the global diamond supply chain. These highly sought-after Hearts & Arrow diamonds have rapidly increased in popularity since the 1990s.
Through his authoritative alliances, he vigorously administers, defends, and promotes eighteen unified African diamond-producing countries, which impressively represents 67% of the world diamond production in carat weight and which contributes more than $8.5 billion in revenue to the global diamond industry. This accomplished diamond official also served as Chief Administrative Developer in 2000 and became Project Launch Team Coordinator in 2001 for Kimberley Process (KP), a diamond certification scheme to eradicate blood/conflict diamonds.
In 2001, Dr M'zée was a principal trustee and decisive proponent to establish Dubai as a major diamond and jewelry manufacturing center, laying the foundation for the successful launch of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in 2002.
In early 2017, M'zée drafted a bold and assertive revenue recovery proposal that urged the Republic of Angola to implement "Operation Transparency" in late 2018 and internationally lauded campaign that was effective in combatting illegal immigration, unlawful exploration of diamonds as well as environmental crimes related to the plundering of natural resources, such as diamond smuggling.
In addition to this, at the beginning of 2019, Dr M'zée was assigned as Chairman and Managing Director of the African International Diamond Exchange (AIDEX), Africa's most transparent rough diamond supplier for four diamond exchanges in Antwerp, the Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan, the world's largest diamond bourse in Mumbai as well as the largest Free Zone in the United Arab Emirates. At the end of 2019, he was entrusted as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the African Diamond Trust Fund (ADTF), a fully integrated, autonomous financial depository and vault operator for ethically mined rough diamonds originating in Africa.
Here, in an exclusive interview with Rough&Polished, Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge gives a clear picture of Africa’s diamond industry and his perception of the country’s future…
Some excerpts…
The African Diamond Council (ADC) is looked upon as a major influencer on the global diamond sector. Can you explain to our readers the ADC’s activities as well as its progress in guiding and protecting the continent’s diamond industry from inception to date?
First and foremost, the African Diamond Council (ADC) globally represents, empowers, and safeguards the venerable interests of every diamond-producing nation whose economies are heavenly dependent on diamond mining, exports, and/or revenue within the continent of Africa. A profusion of our activities emerges from the effective utilization of multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary expertise to skillfully structure, support, and deliver desired policy outcomes and revenue-generating mechanisms that are in the best interest of diamond-producing nations, along with those they choose to ethically cooperate with.
In other words, the Council works diligently to bolster African diamond-producing nations through optimum utilization, management, and conservation of their valuable diamond resources together with those possessing a genuine interest to professionally vitalize them. Africa’s diamond-producing countries are encouraged by the ADC to serve as an altruistic and unanticipated example for each other in their pursuit to increase proceeds from the sales of domestic natural, industrial and gem-quality diamonds on the world market. Since its inception, the ADC has been armed with a legitimate, vigorous and viable legislative agenda that exercises unconditional sovereignty within a much-needed, cohesive trade mechanism of unanimity.
To provide additional clarity, the ADC goes a great distance to supply discretionary guidance to African diamond-producing countries at the highest level by initiating favorable policies and strategies that sanction them to conclusively implement, ascertain and recognize the most profitable means of preserving their common interests. The Council possesses a powerful track record of judiciously maneuvering to usher in a prevailing level of influence that is solely intended to ensure systematic ascendancy, productivity, compliance, and prudent management within the African diamond marketplace.
Our governing body makes every effort to provide our diamond-producing countries with unlimited freedom of choice together with a broader range of marketing and international selling options. The Council works to be the most preferred and essential source of strength and continental pride for Africa’s occasionally enmeshed diamond trade. The source of the ADC’s resonance over the years has been and still is its applicability, its aptness as a metaphor for how well our governing body rewards those who not only operate within our diamond producing countries but more importantly, for those who inhabit them. We make every effort to be the diamond trade’s most encouraging emissary between the public and private sectors.
In matters where the African diamond sector requires formal representation or defense, particularly when faced with diamond-related dissension, unwarranted criticism, condemnation, and embargoes as it relates to unfair human rights violations, circumstances, and allegations, the ADC is present and available to mediate as well as to provide unbiased solutions on both, a short and long-term basis. There are recurring moments when the ADC engages in undertakings to positively provide global prominence to African diamonds through its worldwide promotion initiatives.
The ADC sets out to encourage both, leaders of government and mining companies to valiantly embark on as well as make every effort to prevent any adverse impacts as a result of diamond mining activities. The ADC’s internal think-tank is known for investing a considerable amount of time to carefully examine all commercial dealings relating to mining firms and associations that are under scrutiny in Africa and we ethically serve as the authoritative entity that possesses the ability to disallow or place an embargo any enterprise, association and/or consortium linked to exploitation, illegal export or trading of diamonds within all of the diamond producing countries we correspond to.
One of the ADC’s most engrossed undertakings at the moment is to introduce international legislation that will assist the ADC in returning smuggled, externally confiscated, and illicitly-traded African diamonds back to the countries of origin for legitimate sale/resale. This function as professional liaisons will not only demand a formidable demonstration of negotiating prowess but will also require an unforeseen understanding from those we must professionally engage or correspond with.
To impart supporting frames of references for the ADC’s existence, scores of industry leaders in the late 1990s were beginning to realize that the natural diamond trade’s image was subjected to several ignominious and disregarded circumstances that prevented diamond consumers from seeing the trade in a positive light, particularly those activities that were taking place on the African continent. Since global consumers were not fully aware of where or how these precious mineral resources were being sourced, African diamonds began to come under high-spirited scrutiny and unfortunately, the African diamond areas of activity became more associated with inimical labels that were tainted by graphic images of blood, conflict and other shocking transgressions that involved considerable and recurring exploits of human suffering, which involve hideous working conditions, forced child labor, unjust wages, and other unmentioned misdeeds.
During that particular time, there was a handful of forward-thinking diamond executives who reluctantly, but eventually began to courageously step forward and join my efforts to confront, assemble and embrace the reality that the global diamond industry was in sharp decline and at real risk of being conquered by consumer cessation.
There was no official governing body that was in existence at that time to eagerly present pioneering solutions for African diamond producing countries, to defend them against global media misrepresentation, and to promote the sovereign prerogatives of Africa’s diamondiferous industry in a manner that would introduce global credibility or integrity, so since governments of African diamond producing countries needed to bear the greatest responsibility for the perversion of diamond resources, the African Diamond Council was formally established on that particular premise, which was to offer an unforeseen level of sagacity, accountability, and visibility within a unified structure.
Since ADC’s inceptive working group takes into account and underscores that instability is remarkably costly to a potential investor, the Council’s objective has always been to maintain and restore peace in Africa, particularly in diamond-producing nations. We deeply immersed ourselves and fully committed to making any continuance of war efforts or participation in exploitation activities tremendously consequential for all of the involved parties.
In July 2000, the global diamond industry witnessed the low-profile formation of the World Diamond Council (WDC) and many long-serving African diamond industry players wanted to believe that there was a real possibility for this international lobby group to represent the entire diamond value chain, but it became evident that the WDC was being employed as a mechanism to serve as a self-asserted voice for diamond jewelers and retailers. As we look back, we can see that any African that was secured in a WDC role since its existence all served their purpose and woefully, none are no longer relevant in the global diamond space today.
Before 2003, the ADC demonstrated a commitment to serve as one of Kimberley Process’ (KP) Certification Scheme’s (KPCS) most assertive global draftsmen. After the KPCS finally became operational, the ADC wasted no time getting out front to serve as one of the certification scheme’s lead advocates. In 2005, the ADC was summoned to contribute in an advisory capacity for the “Blood Diamond” film project, which unveiled quite a few shrouded issues that had previously gone unexplained in an industry that was not only the most self-contained of all, but also held the title as the “most perilous”. In 2006, Angola declared the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), which was well-positioned to serve as a supporting ministerial offshoot for the African Diamond Council (ADC). As African countries did begin to show interest in participating, however, ADPA failed to persuade those governments to continue their support for an entity that could today be summed up as a befouled intergovernmental structure that mastered the art of looking for problems to all the solutions that were being presented. From that point on, ADC set out autonomously to be the most tenable solutions provider for Africa’s diamond trade.
Today, sub-standard diamond governance and management within Africa’s diamond-producing countries is nothing more than a culmination of a complex set of dynamics, which should not always be attributed only to foreign multinationals. While droves of non-diamond producing KP supporters set out regularly on a campaign to praise the diamond certification scheme as an unvarying international success, many of the KP misfortunes, deficiencies, and loopholes were being blatantly exposed by the Zimbabwean 2008. Military troops were not only cited with a variety of accusations that were directly linked to rampant human rights abusers immediately after taking control of Marange diamond fields that October, but the ADC was tipped off that many of the diamonds being extracted there were being smuggled into neighboring South Africa and Mozambique accompanied by fraudulent KP certificates of origin.
The following year, the Zimbabwean opposition leader was sworn in as Prime Minister and the ADC was allowed to monitor diamond mining activities in Zimbabwe before making a strong case to defend them in 2011 at the KP Plenary in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. This state of affairs was far from a routine case of a ‘rebel' or ‘opposition leader’ taking control of a diamond mine to generate revenue to purchase weapons in an attempt to overthrow then Zimbabwe’s ruling African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party. It could not be thrown into the category of a DRC, Angola, or Sierra Leone type of predicament. The government of Zimbabwe was being accused of ordering the military to take control of a diamond area while subjecting villages and young children to forced labor. Technically, this global diamond industry’s incursion was supervised and effectively defended by the ADC, given that the allegations were absolved as a result of the Kimberley Process' theatrics and malfunctioning definition of a ‘blood’ or ‘conflict’ diamond. On that sole premise, Zimbabwe could have effortlessly and internationally been hailed as the best example of a political power-sharing agreement in Africa, especially in the absence of external intervention. This was not only viewed as a victory for the ADC and the government of Zimbabwe, it was further viewed as a diplomatic or intellectual coup d’état that should have prompted the KP definition to be updated.
In 2009, ADC released an award-winning Public Service Announcement (PSA) that not only encouraged the spirit of inquiry in the United States, which is the world’s top consuming nation of Africa’s diamonds, but the PSA also educated and demonstrated to end-consumers how several gem-quality diamonds in Africawerebeing sourced. As Sierra Leone’s war came to an end in January 2002, Angola’s war ended in 2002, and DRC's conflict concluded in July 2003, it marked the end of an era where diamonds could be controlled by rebel leaders.
The ADC makes a practice of encouraging those who are not often recognized in an industry where so much is obscure. Informal miners or “garimpeiros” can take credit for being the overriding reason why the ADC’s revenue recovery program has shown so much promise in countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In many cases, the informal miner tends to make a much momentous sacrifice to sustain himself and support his family, more than a diamond executive does.
The ADC's incursion on gender-diversity policies has also proven to be marked with a great deal of assurance for women in the sector through non-profits, such as the International Women in Mining (IWiM). The Council’s women’s empowerment initiatives have also proven to be valuable in increasing the global visibility of diamond industry women in countries like Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A concentrated focus on Youth Empowerment also places the ADC in a position to highlight recently discovered talent for initiatives such as the Young Diamantaires and the noble undertakings of the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF). As a Diamond Executive, I would not want to propose or create a youth initiative or program that I would not want my children to participate in. Diamond revenue is can contribute more to improving the quality of life for Africans. Furthermore, the ADC commits to setting aside support initiatives that support educational development, sports programs as well as patronage for Arts & Culture.
Today, the ADC is now considered to be one of the most enduring positive forces in the global mining industry and we tend to question, challenge, and provide innovative solutions to issues in the profession that often go overlooked. The Council continues to be favored with an unsurpassed, dignified, and incessant level of universal trust, reliance, respect, and positioning, not only from the public and private sector industry administrators but also from consumers and historians who continue to depend on us to provide guidance and facts that will assist them in making prudent diamond purchases as well as maintaining fidelity in the industry narrative.
What steps has ADC taken until now to improve the business aspect of Africa’s rough diamonds supplied to overseas organizations/companies through auctions/tenders etc? Are mining companies members of ADC and follow a protocol of sorts or go individually? What’s the story?
The African Diamond Council (ADC) voluntarily offers and contractually supplies conscientious as well as non-self-interested recommendations to all involved parties that make up the diamond supply chain, which comprehensively consists of diamond exploration, mining, sorting, cutting & polishing, jewelry creation, regulation, and even the selling or auctioning of the final product. The ADC aims to inspire a communal vision that will distinctively be designed to eliminate harmful and needless price fluctuations and we mutually represent an import and efficient economic source of diamonds to diamond consuming nations through the establishment of our internal diamond exchange that will source unpolished as well as polished diamonds from each of our corresponding nations. The ADC is endowed with a great deal of global authority to uphold a fair return on capital, predominately for those who positively aspire to empower the African diamond trade. The Council firmly believes that it is incredibly important for African diamond producing countries to establish and stockpile reserves of premium natural diamonds that can be put up for sale and auctioned to miners providing capital for diamond exploration, which is an objective that was not seriously considered by state mining companies before the apprehensiveness that coronavirus pandemic spawned.
By all means, the ADC clearly understands that the real target in Africa for international mining companies and major diamond centers is and has always been to incessantly extract, even occasionally on the strength of misappropriation. This foremost point of convergence in many of these activities or occurrences of indifference tends to get shrouded by the profession’s newfangled topics of ‘sustainability’, ‘beneficiation’ and professed ‘revised system of warranties (SoW) guidelines’. These industry-generated catchwords and phrases are virtually designed to transfix and mesmerize African civil servants with a false sense of purpose, inclusion, and success. This unveiled apathy or lack of progress in the African diamond trade can also be directly attributed to an effective indoctrination of industry stakeholders and credulous consumers.
With that being said, it should be more evident now that private diamond mining companies are ineligible for representation in a governing body and since continental integration is reserved exclusively for Heads of State within African diamond producing countries, mining companies can easily conclude that they are rather well-positioned to learn about when it may be a good time to enter or set up operations within some of our most prudent African diamond-producing nations, especially for those who commit to voluntary reciprocity. For example, external companies that are active in diamond mining in Africa can benefit tremendously from the ADC’s guidance and specifics in terms of how to implement successful corporate policies that present equal opportunities for employment, remuneration, promotion, and social impact.
This typically disregarded purpose can be achieved without the mistake of discriminating against any particular ethnic group or gender class. In addition to that, international mining companies could comfortably position themselves to conclusively demonstrate and credibly implement ADC-sanctioned social impact strategies within those producing countries where both, youth & women’s empowerment initiatives can establish a soundtrack record that is meticulously designed to have a far-reaching effect to prompt positive change. In 2022, it is not difficult to witness significant progress in Lesotho for example after the successful launch of large-scale diamond mining operations. Other excellent examples of African diamond-producing countries that show a great deal of success by following the ADC’s plan of strategy to ethically bring their goods to the international market are Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Angola.
On a consultative stratum, the ADC supports and proffers professional guidance for various financial institutions, diamond consultancy firms as well as tender & auction houses coordinating global diamond transactions. The Council has set up a fully-integrated, autonomous financial depository that doubles as an offshore vault operator for ethically-mined natural diamonds originating in Africa. Since the global diamond industry has finally reached a consensus concerning greater transparency, the ADC has already set out to introduce and implement blockchain technology in our domestic domain as a promising tool for dealing with a forgery.
What is the current situation now in the movements of illicit diamonds in Africa? According to general information, some companies in the Central African Republic (CAR) are purchasing illicit diamonds used by rebels, etc., and getting them into the mainstream fraudulently? Please give us an idea of the situation in a country.
The tactics currently being employed to smuggle natural African diamonds are both, antiquated and rather innovative. The fact of this matter is a clear indication that each successful occurrence impels a more elevated level of frequency, which in turn, makes it much more problematic to thoroughly avert the illegal trafficking of African rough diamonds. Despite the threats that the global and African diamond sectors are currently faced with and in defiance of the industry challenges and obstacles that must be confronted as a whole, I remain rather optimistic that all can successfully be dealt with and overcome with a collective industry effort. If my memory continues to serve me well, the Central African Republic (CAR) was officially suspended from Kimberley Process (KP) Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2013. CAR was then forewarned with modest words of caution from the industry group that represents the trade in front of the International diamond certification scheme. CAR was condemned for continued conflict with the government and armed forces, even so, their diamond supply chain could not completely be interrupted and the activities in CAR even escalated over the next three years. Since the CAR’s 2016 readmission into the KP, the country has become the latest and most fitting testing ground for KP susceptibility, unacceptable practices, and inadmissible industry behavior from companies sourcing within. These exploits did not provide a cogent and additional opportunity for an African diamond producer to further unmask the previously examined shortcomings of the international certification scheme. Opposing groups control more than half the country and they seem quite determined to destabilize the powers that be. Their efforts have not only displaced a profusion of inhabitants, but activities have given credence to their capacity to discourage residents and make humanitarian aid in the country incredibly exhausting.
Even though fraudulent certificates can also be attributed to the KP’s ineffectiveness, the ADC shall continue to support efforts that contribute to making the certification scheme more effective. I cannot fail to commend several invaluable entities, organizations, and mining ministries that have proven to be beneficial in the ADC’s undertaking to stave off the illicit flow of African diamonds and to produce contributors who have mastered the ability to influence, impel and cajole.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Centre National d’Appui au Développement et à la Participation Populaire (CENADEP), Impact,the Enough Project, Centre Centrafricain de Recherche et d’Analyse Géopolitique (CCRAG), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Action Mines Guinée, Global Witness, Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), Amnesty International, Groupe d’Appui aux Exploitants des Ressources Naturelles (GAERN), Green Advocates, Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Maluti Community Development Forum (MCDF), Réseau de Lutte contre la Faim (RELUFA), Groupe de Recherche et de Plaidoyer sur les Industries Extractives (GRPIE) and Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) are all key to the success that the ADC currently enjoys as an well founded governing body of diamond producing nations. There is also an insightful and informative assembly of courageous visionaries, activists and informal miners that are persistently contributing to ensure more favorable industry outcomes, not only in Central African Republic, but inside each and every diamond producing nation on the African continent.
Diamond consumers deserve to be made aware that civil society groups should not all be summed up or labeled as ‘enemies of the state’ and many of these NGOs and IGOs continue to press for meaningful reforms of the Kimberley Process.
Going back to tactics and methods used to smuggle African diamonds outside of the continent, the ADC is and has been aware of diplomatic smuggling operations that regularly involve imprudent misuse as a result of military entitlement. Portuguese commandos were accused of covertly operating under the auspices of the United Nations, the very intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international cooperation, so the KP’s message does not seem to be getting their message across through official channels of affiliated patrons after seeing servicemen come under fire last year for their pre-2019 antics in the course of peacekeeping assignment in the Central African Republic.
Many people wonder why the Kimberley Process Plenary Meetings in all these years did not succeed to clarify the definition of conflict diamonds. Do people also think some strong forces in the global industry forestalling the move? Your views?
In 1999, one of the prefatory activities of the African Diamond Council (ADC) was to effectively contribute to the inception and successful establishment of a global diamond certification scheme, which is now known as the Kimberley Process (KP) Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KP has failed to ensure the availability of ethical diamonds in the market and continues to fall short of living up to its purpose, which should comprehensively include a broad range of human rights abuses.
At that particular time, there were active civil wars taking place in African diamond-producing countries, such as Sierra Leone, where the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel army was generating illicit diamond revenue to fund their assault to overthrow the existing government. More than 10,000 child soldiers were recruited to fight in Sierra Leone since children are seen by armed groups as expendable and inexpensive to sustain. In the Republic of Angola, rebels fighting for the “União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola” (UNITA) took control of the diamond mines in the Cuango and the Lundas Valley to fund a civil war that lasted 27 long years until a peace agreement was signed in 2002. War was being waged in these African countries and much of the pogrom was not only being intentionally perpetuated and reinforced by rapacious foreign colluders, but also by neighboring African countries who were also looking to benefit from destabilization. Pilfering of diamonds also proved to be one of the primary incentives for foreign nations to support the persistence of war and destabilization efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaïre or Congo-Kinshasa).
To put an end to civil wars in African diamond-producing countries, the ADC worked prudently, independently, and tirelessly to seek out and even meet privately with many of the rebel leaders who were behind these aforementioned factions.
African diamonds that are negligently mined as a result of human suffering continue to exist within a handful of our African diamond-producing countries. This assertion is not just an individual perspective, but rather more of a universal and fundamental truth that fails to represent the reality or spurious notion that the KP is infallible or excluded from the interminable assessment. While ADC’s endorsement of KP continues to passively persist, the definition of a “blood” or “conflict” diamond does not explicitly confront or address this unsettling and ongoing problem. Inadequate natural resources governance and apathetic management of private sector activities in Africa is a consequence of a complex set of dynamics, which should not always be attributed exclusively to foreign multinationals, so I do not want to pretend that I fail to understand why some governments or private mining companies make decisions that they do.
The Kimberley Process (KP) Intercessional and Plenary Meetings have always possessed a sound and existing prospect to be taken seriously to a much greater extent and the ambiance within is well endowed with the promise to be moderately encouraging concerning candid or voluntary interaction. From the perspective of an African civil servant, the KP gatherings are often viewed as a golden opportunity to embark on another photo opportunity, pleasure, or shopping excursion. This also can be applied to those who periodically depart the continent to take part or make appearances in international diamond conferences.
Moving on, the international diamond community is paying very close attention to an incredibly promising development, where Botswana, Africa’s top and most highly regarded diamond producer is stepping forward to demonstrate that their nation is well-positioned to seize the opportunity and responsibility of being selected as Secretariat of the Kimberley Process. The probability of their contender’s success is beginning to rapidly diminish, given that China cannot claim a corresponding freehold of being a diamond-producing nation. The other stumbling blocks that the Asian superpower has to contend with point in the direction of the access and activities on the African continent, which has been considerably associated with consumption, exploitation, and the unauthorized extraction of African mineral resources. China conceivably requires more time to unravel the inner workings of the African diamond industry in its efforts to make a strong case for this presented undertaking.
The global diamond industry has made many notable strides in the right direction and is positively taking shape in its activities that span between mine and shelf. I remain optimistic that this line of business shall continue to make considerable headway, predominantly during combined cooperation as well as in the spirit of correlative civility.
Nonetheless, our industry does continue to wear a multiplicity of labels and should not ever be summed up in a single word. We must all keep in mind that diamond is an industry that has relished in the eminence of being aggressively and deliberately aggrandized in the public eye as captivating, alluring, coveted, and praiseworthy.
In contrast, the activities of the trade on the ground are notoriously precarious and continue to submit themselves to the unerring labels of being “guarded, unforthcoming, unethical, indifferent, dispassionate and contradictory” to say the least.
More often than not, when one takes the time to closely examine the authoritative upper echelon of the global diamond industry, we can effortlessly catch sight of our extraordinarily self-serving, executive-level elitists who simply cannot resist thinking very highly of themselves for overwhelming the industry with fruitless deeds or by successfully infecting those within their realm of control. Woefully, these idiosyncrasies are customary, expected as well as unremunerative attributes that are most apparent and not exclusive to high-level decision-makers in the private sector. Senior mining executives with large-scale mining operations in Africa tend to be exceedingly risk-averse and most would prefer to maintain safe distances from any blue-collar efforts that they would potentially be forced to contend with inside Africa’s convoluted diamond trade.
A profusion of key players within the industry is impervious to how little they unintentionally contribute to the problems that exist in the industry as a whole, which could be attributed to an inability to keep up with prevailing circumstances, continued turpitude, and indolence. Some of the highest-ranking global diamond administrators are fully aware that there is an innumerable amount of African civil servants who spare no effort to arrive at a comparable level of social compatibility, so much that they are even willing to undermine each other to fit into these disposable circles. Many entities that regard themselves as representatives of the global diamond industry explicitly where development and implementation of regulatory or voluntary systems, have mastered the art of assembling Africa’s most transient officials in the interim. The most prominent figureheads put a great deal of effort into assigning African civil servants with specific tasks of advancing proposed consensus or certain strategies that certainly would not have legs to stand on if the resolution relied exclusively upon the hands of African diamond-producing nations.
There is a prevailing and accepted culture or disposition that keeps the industry mute, detached, and moderately indifferent. It is short-lived occupancy where appointed corporate administrators and presiding civil servants are inclined to avoid any of the untold “hands-on” perspectives that should be consistently considered and confronted from time to time. I remain adamant in these observations and continue to maintain an indispensable firmness of purpose to intrepidly impart the abiding verity that the African diamond industry is certainly not for private sector executives or administrative public servants who recklessly make a habit of misapplying themselves, particularly for those who have yet to grasp or consider how dysfunctional and expendable they are or may be, for whatever reasons.
The ADC is forever interested in attaching ubiquitous value to the entire diamond trade as a whole as well as contributing to producing a more pensive brother/sisterhood of those who subscribe to participate in and usher in positive solutions.
Lastly, when key industry stakeholders forcefully move to solve the KP definition shortfall, we can get on with business and be glad that we did.
While some sections of the global diamond industry claim that in Africa human rights abuses, forced/child labour, conflicts, corruption, etc., are a thing of the past. But the skeptical minds want more concrete evidence. As Chairman of ADC, please give us the current picture…
During the last two decades, vigorous exchanges have taken place on governance and management of Africa’s natural resources has intensified tremendously as a result of the increasing evidence that these resources are financing conflict and corruption. Steering clear of redundancy, Africa has the largest number of child, bonded, and forced labor in the world, and the predatory operators within Africa often manipulate to benefit from that drudgery in far removed areas lacking supervised corporate accountability. Strong and persuasive circumstantial evidence does exist, not only through rebel activity but also as a consequence of state involvement, where unscrupulousness, profiteering, and pilferage are unbridled. The boots on the ground assaults in Africa are gradually being substituted with psychological persuasiveness and material incentives.
Wrapping up, reports say diamond mines are closing down due to the non-availability/dwindling of kimberlites and no new major mines have been discovered of late worldwide. How do you see Africa’s diamond mining sector's future and growth going forward?
The Republic of Angola represents the most reassuring frontier for large-scale diamond mining projects in Africa and the future is rather encouraging. Outside of petroleum, diamond production is one of their main sources of wealth and that is where the blessing could also end up being a curse if the resources are not managed with good judgment. The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum in the Republic of Angola is one of the most important portfolios on the African continent. To put it into context, Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and Botswana is Africa’s top diamond producer, followed by Angola, which is a superpower in both sectors.
Alrosa has been operating in Angola for quite some time and to a very great extent, the Russian mining giant has benefited greatly from the familiarity of the terrain as well as through their presence of mind. Alrosa has shown many of us that prosperity in the African diamond industry has a great deal to do with how close you can get to the actual source, so you see an innumerable amount of Diamantaires who not only view Luanda and Saurimo’s Diamond Development Hub as “open game”, but unlike the African International Diamond Exchange (AIDEX), some appointed officials inside Africa irresponsibly posses no interest or concern where Angolan goods end up after they exit the country.
In 2013, the Luele kimberlite pipe was discovered in the Luaxe concession area and is hailed as the industry’s largest discovery in the last 6 decades. This should have turned the light of opportunity on for many giants such as De Beers and Rio Tinto, who both entered during the last quarter of 2021.
After four decades, Rio Tinto ceased production of their Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia and was fortunate to have taken advantage of the new opportunity in Angola. De Beers, on the other hand, suspended all its investment and prospecting activities in Angola in 1999, so they are no strangers to the terrain. As a re-introduction, De Beers will conduct exploration activities primarily in the north-eastern corner of Angola and could also end up being the best example of social impact, now that they have two formidable sparring partners.
What I expect to see after elections in Angola later this year is a restructuring or reoccurrence to have independent ministries for each, Petroleum as well as Geology & Mines. This move will certainly assist in securing Angola’s rise to the top of the African diamond industry.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
