The Zimbabwean government announced recently that it has set up an “expert” panel to investigate a diamond fraud allegedly committed by De Beers when it held prospecting rights in Marange. Harare said it will take De Beers to court if the report by its “expert” panel confirmed their suspicions. However, De Beers Group Head of Media Relations, Lynette Gould said the diamond miner was not aware of any such “expert” panel. She said should the panel be convened, De Beers was confident that they would be cleared of any “wrongdoing”. Below is the full text of an interview the De Beers’ spokesperson had with Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa.
Zimbabwe announced recently that it has set up an “expert” panel to investigate a diamond fraud allegedly committed by De Beers when it held prospecting rights in Marange. What is your comment?
We are not aware of any such ‘expert’ panel nor have we been approached to comment. We are confident that should such a panel be convened that they would find absolutely no wrongdoing on the part of De Beers. By way of background, De Beers was prospecting in Zimbabwe for around 10 years until it departed in 2006. It carried out prospecting in the Marange area for only two years, all of which is recorded by the relevant authorities.
De Beers is said to have told Harare that it was looking for Kimberlite pipe diamonds that required deeper digging than alluvial diamonds, raising questions as to how De Beers could have missed stones that artisanal miners extracted with hoes and hands. What is your response to this?
De Beers’ business model is based on exploring for primary deposits. Marange is a secondary or alluvial deposit and we thus concluded that it was not appropriate for our portfolio.
The Zimbabwean government said they will take De Beers to court if the report by its “expert” panel confirmed their suspicions. What is your comment?
As I said before we are confident that should such a panel be convened that they would find absolutely no wrongdoing on the part of De Beers.
Political analysts said the move by the Zimbabwean government was an attempt to divert attention from alleged looting of diamonds from the controversial Marange field. Do you concur?
We can understand how some analysts might come to this conclusion, however Zimbabwe is an independent, sovereign nation and is at liberty to carry out whatever investigations it wishes.
When did De Beers prospect for diamonds in Zimbabwe and what made it leave the country?
De Beers was prospecting between 1995 and 2006. Having found no deposit that would fit its existing portfolio, it decided to relinquish its concessions and withdraw.
What is De Beers’ position on Marange diamond fields?
This is an issue for the Kimberley Process to resolve. We can’t speak for the KP. We would, of course, like to see Zimbabwe fully compliant and we call on all involved to help the authorities achieve this so that the people of Zimbabwe can benefit further from the revenue generated from diamonds.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Rough&Polished
