Zimbabwe to allow just two private companies to mine for diamonds
The Zimbabwe National Diamond Policy has been approved by the government. According to the new policy, which is expected to regulate the diamond miningsector, only the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), Murowa Diamonds and two other companies will be allowed to undertake diamond exploration and mining in the country, according to Diamond World.
Mangaliso Ndlovu, Acting Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, briefed journalists on the new policy and clarified: “Any other entity or person with diamond mining title shall approach any one of the four approved companies for joint venture arrangements”.
Ndlovu said that the ZCDC “shall be the 46% and the local Community Trust — the 5% indigenous partners of any foreign investor who intends to undertake diamond mining activities in Zimbabwe”. In addition, all rough diamonds in the country will be “submitted to the Diamond Value Management Centre to be established by the ZCDC for cleaning, sorting and valuation save for Murowa Diamonds”. Finally, the new diamond policy stipulates that 10% “of diamonds will be reserved for local value addition”.
Source: Israel Diamond
