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Zim treasury takes control of diamonds after $80mln ZCDC capitalisation

25 may 2017
Zimbabwe’s finance ministry said it will take control of diamonds produced in Marange and Chimanimani having recently capitalised the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to the tune of $80 million through the central bank.
ZCDC was established last year through a merger of Marange Resources, Gye Nyame, Diamond Mining Corporation, and Kusena.
“There are two minerals which remain a disappointment, diamond and coal. We have capitalized the ZCDC to the tune of $80 million and there is a new arrangement with ZCDC that since we are now capitalizing it, automatically the diamonds belong to the fiscus,” The Herald quoted finance minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying.
“So every output will come to the fiscus through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and we think that this will improve transparency and to ensure that we get maximum realization of the proceeds of the diamonds.”
Mining companies that previously operated in the area were told that their licences had expired and government was not willing to renew them.
Rather they were asked to form part of ZCDC, but Mbada Diamonds and the Chinese’s OFECC, which controlled Anjin and Jinan, refused.
They took the government to court.
However, mines minister Walter Chidhakwa told Rough & Polished last February that they had reached an out of court settlement with the Chinese.
The High Court also recently barred ZCDC from looting diamond ore which belongs to Mbada Diamonds.
Mbada had 150 000 tonnes of diamond ore stockpiles that were ready for processing, according to the Zimbabwe Independent.
Zimbabwe recently said that it paid $5.4 million to Russian led miner DTZ-OZGEO to take over its diamond claims in Chimanimani.
State media claimed that ZCDC was currently producing 200 000 carats per month.
ZCDC produced about 900,000 carats last year from peak figures of 12 million carats annually.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished