Anjin returns to full-scale Marange operations as it pumps in $38 million

Anjin Diamond, a joint venture between China’s Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFECC) and Matt Bronze, an investment vehicle controlled by Zimbabwe’s military, has returned to full-scale operations in Marange with an initial investment of $38 million.
Anjin and several other companies were barred from Marange in 2016 by the then government of the late Robert Mugabe for allegedly failing to remit diamond revenue to the treasury.
This led to the establishment of the state-owned Zimbabwe Diamond Consolidated Company (ZCDC).
Anjin was, however, allowed to return to Marange last year by the new administration of president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Zimbabwean president, who officiated at a ceremony to mark the official resumption of operations in Marange, said Harare’s 2016 decision to force out alluvial diamond miners affected production for the last four years. 
“We are now determined to restore the productivity of diamonds for the development of our economy,” he said.
Mnangagwa also said Zimbabwe should add value to its diamonds rather than exporting the stones in their rough state.
“I am informed that there is a place in India where there is no diamond mine, but they have a US$5 billion diamond industry. I’m told Zimbabwe contributes a lot of diamonds there…,” he said.
The executive director of Centre for Natural Resources Governance Farai Maguwu criticized the return of the Chinese to Marange.
“Do we need Chinese nationals to travel 10878 kilometres from Beijing to Zimbabwe to do alluvial diamond panning and yet we vana vevhu hava basa (Zimbabweans are unemployed),” he tweeted.
“Today Mr Mnangagwa is commissioning Chinese criminals to continue looting Marange diamonds. [Between] 2010 and 2013 they remitted nothing to treasury. Mugabe kicked them out in 2016 [and Mnangagwa] brought them back in 2019.”
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean president said his government was aware of various deposits of diamonds outside Manicaland that would be exploited in the near future.
“It is our desire that both local and foreign investors should come and take up investment opportunities in the diamond industry,” he said.
“We must look beyond the horizon and develop robust strategies to come up with a thriving mining sector to grow our economy.”
Russia’s ALROSA, which established a joint venture with ZCDC, recently commenced diamond exploration in three provinces of Zimbabwe.  

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