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New diamond rush spoils ZCDC production target

28 november 2017
A fresh diamond rush in Marange is spoiling the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC)’s monthly production target, according to a local weekly.
The company had a monthly production target of 200 000 carats and expected to produce 2,5 million carats this year after acquiring equipment worth millions of dollars.
The Zimbabwe Independent quoted Tryagain Mpofu, a resident of the local Chiadzwa area, as saying that hundreds of illegal miners had invaded the diamond fields again.
Mpofu was accidentally shot and critically injured by ZCDC security details who were chasing after illegal miners.
“I was walking close to the ZCDC security fence when I came across hundreds of illegal miners running in the opposite direction,” he said.
“I could not join them as I was on my journey home and there was no reason to run away because I was not part of the panners.”
The weekly reports that apart from the fresh invasion by illegal miners, the ZCDC was also still battling ongoing legal battles over the ownership of mining claims.
This, it noted, had also contributed to the low production volumes.
However, ZCDC chief executive officer Morris Mpofu said production had remained on the negative side of 200 000 carats monthly, owing to the migration programme which the company was undertaking.
He said a conglomerate plant would be completed before the end of the year to pave way for the company to embark on kimberlitic mining which required huge investment.

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