New Reclamation Group (Reclam), which owns Mbada Mining in partnership with the Zimbabwe Mining development Corporation (ZMDC), is planning to avert a bond default partly by raising diamond output from its Marange operations.
Reclam general manager Chris Gavrielides was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the company was looking at “local financing, offshore financing and then looking at internally generated funds, including funds generated from the diamond operations”, to refinance the debt.
The South African based company had a debt of €152.8 million ($188 million) that should be paid up next February.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said that raising proceeds from Zimbabwean diamonds or obtaining bank funding might help Reclam stave off non-payment.
Zimbabwe seized the Marange diamond fields from UK-based African Consolidated Resources in 2006.
It went on to establish separate joint ventures including Reclam’s Mbada Mining and China’s Anjin to mine the diamonds.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
