Diamond Mining Corporation (DMC) said the lifespan of its mine, in Marange is “only” four years at the current mining rate and wants Harare to allocate it a new concession.
Company deputy general manager Gillian Sithole told Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during his recent tour of the diamond fields that their plant had a throughput of 900,000 tonnes per annum with quantified reserves at 3.6 million tonnes.
“The lifespan of the mine at current throughput is four years,” he was quoted as saying by The Zimbabwe Standard.
“In order to improve on the return on investment of DMC, government should consider allocating DMC a concession with diamondiferous conglomerates which have been known to carry a grade averaging +/- 6 carat per tone.”
Sithole said the company had milled 455,885 tonnes with a production of 611,585 carat at head grade of 1,34 carat per tonne.
This, he said, was generally lower than the grades obtaining in the region.
DMC, which is a joint venture between Zimbabwe Mining and Development Corporation (ZMDC) and Pure Diam of Dubai was operating on 4,794 hectares.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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