Gift Chimanikire, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, in his interview to Rough&Polished described the current situation around diamond export from this country.
The US based Rapaport Diamond Trading Network (Rapnet) cautioned its members against trading in stones mined from Marange diamond fields, despite the country receiving a green light from the Kimberley Process to auction its gems. What is your comment?
What do you want me to say about this? We are not bothered at all by a company in the United States that does not want to buy our diamonds. We are not even short of buyers and that is why we recently auctioned our diamonds.
Deputy Minister, perhaps such calls by Rapaport does have an impact on the sale of the country’s diamonds?
No! It does not affect the selling of our diamonds. As far as I know we were even over subscribed of buyers during our last two auctions. We never remained with gems from the lots that were put under the hammer. All the 900 000 carats were auctioned, so we are not bothered at all by anyone around the world who does not want to buy our diamonds.
You said the country auctioned 900 000 carats of diamonds, can you clarify whether this was for the second auction or both?
These were sold during the first auction; we are not disclosing what transpired during the second auction. That is normal practice, De Beers is selling diamonds in Botswana, do you know how much they are selling per month? You don’t! They can only give you quarterly, half yearly or full year results. Surely, for security reasons you can not go around announcing that we are selling diamonds on this date. When we conducted our first auction, we deliberately made it public so the world could know that we are now selling our diamonds, but otherwise that is not the normal practice. We do not want our buyers to be waylaid or to be robbed in the process of buying diamonds.
The Zimbabwean government indicated after the first auction of the Marange stockpile that buyers came from countries such as India, Lebanon, and Dubai. Can you name the current and prospective buyers of Zimbabwe’s gems?
We cannot tell you that.
Why can’t you disclose that information?
Why should we (tell you) and why would you think that a ministry would prepare a dossier stating that so many people are coming to buy our diamonds? If you are conducting an auction, anyone can participate, as it is done on a willing-seller and willing-buyer basis. So we have nothing to hide. If you want to participate you can also submit your bid to say I also want to buy diamonds.
In fact the countries you have just quoted are not the only ones that are buying diamonds from us. We had buyers from Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom as well.
Do foreign companies take part in Zimbabwe’s diamond mining?
I am sure you are aware of it, we have partnered with foreign companies. Indigenous Zimbabweans look for foreign companies they can partner with then in turn partner with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC) on a 50/50 basis.
So given the new indigenous regulations, will it affect this 50/50 partnership?
It is entirely up to that indigenous Zimbabwean to determine what percentages they will have as partners, we don’t interfere as a government. However, what we are saying is that the Zimbabwean government shall return a 50 percent interest in diamond mining.
Are there any strategic buyers chosen or it’s a matter of whoever is interested in local gems can participate?
An auction is an auction; we do not select who should buy our diamonds. However, they should be people of good repute. You can not just walk and say I want to buy diamonds when you do not have money in the bank. You should produce a proof that you have sufficient funds.
Is there any influence of the diamond industry on the recovery of the country’s infrastructure?
That is obvious, for this is income to the state and the state actually has the fiscus.
Can you confirm that the Zimbabwean government got $30 million as a royalty from the first diamond auction?
Yes, that is true; it was made public when we received the $30 million cheque.
What is the current diamond output and export levels in Zimbabwe?
I can not disclose that information to you.
Reports suggested that Zimabbwe had a stockpile of 4.5 million carats of diamonds from Marange prior to the first two auctions. What are the current estimates of existing diamond stocks in the country?
That is a national security issue, we can not tell you that. It is like telling you how much gold we have at the Reserve Bank vaults.
Zimbabwe is said to have granted a mining claim to a Chinese firm called Anjin to mine diamonds at Marange. Can you comment on this?
It is not correct to say we granted a mining claim to Anjin rather the government through ZMDC partnered with them. All companies mining in Marange do so in partnership with ZMDC, so there is nothing as giving a mining claim to a Chinese firm, they are just our partners. Canadile and Mbada are also foreign companies that have partnered with Zimbabweans and in turn partnered with ZMDC. The same applies with Anjin.
There are also allegations of a barter trade between Zimbabwe and China, with the former supplying diamonds in exchange for arms. What is your comment?
This is rubbish. The government will not allow any private company to barter trade diamonds for arms when we conduct public auctions. We recently conducted diamond sales; did you see arms being exchanged for gems? The reports are not correct, in fact they are scandalous. We are not that broke and we have not been buying arms as far as I know. I am privy to the cabinet’s minutes and I never read anything to that effect.
An empowerment grouping decried a dearth of supply of stones by local miners to the diamond manufacturers, a move that your government has since addressed by the introduction of the 10 percent quota. Can you briefly describe the relation between diamond miners and local cutters?
We introduced a new regulation that will see local diamond miners provide 10 percent of their produce to local cutters and polishers that have been complaining of being starved of supplies. We, however, did not introduce these new regulations just because the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), an empowerment grouping, had asked the government to do so.
In fact when the president of AAG Supa Mandiwanzira complained that diamond manufacturers were not getting supplies, he was politicking, for he is actually one of the miners at the Marange diamond fields. His company was contracted by Murowa to dig for diamonds.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Rough&Polished, from Zimbabwe
