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ZCDC says to comply with court order barring it from diamond mining

16 august 2017
The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) said it will comply with the High Court order barring it from mining in the Marange diamond fields until it has been granted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate.
Company chief executive Moris Mpofu was quoted by The Source as saying that they were, however, yet to receive the court order.
A High Court judge ordered ZCDC last Tuesday to seize mining pending approval of an EIA certificate by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
“This is the High Court which has indicated that we should stop mining. We will comply with (the order) as soon as we receive it but at the moment we have not yet received it. We are not above the law, we comply with any directive that is given by the High Court,” he said.
A local community lobby group, Marange Development Trust, backed by Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association approached the court earlier this year arguing ZCDC broke the law by mining without a license from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
ZCDC, which was established last year following the eviction of all diamond mining firms in Marange, had argued that it should be allowed to continue operations until EMA approved its license application.
Under Zimbabwean law, a mining company can only start operating after carrying out an environmental impact assessment of its project, which should be approved by EMA.
ZCDC plans to produce 2.5 million carats of diamonds this year.

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