Diamond

200 firms have applied for Marange mining licences

According to the Zimbebwe government, more than 200 Zimbabwean and foreign firms have applied to mine diamonds in the controversial Marange diamond fields in the east of the country after the Kimberley Process decision to allow some diamonds from the area to be exported.

The government is checking applications, according to Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu, in comments quoted in the country's Sunday News. Two South African companies, Mbada Holdings and Canadile Mining, are currently mining in the area.
 
The two companies are in 50 percent joint projects with the government of Zimbabwe represented by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
 
Mpofu said the government wanted local communities to get at least 10 percent of the proceeds from mineral sales found in their area. “They (locals) must benefit and these are some of the issues that will be addressed in the proposed Diamond Bill.’’
 
Mpofu even suggested that fellow African diamond producer, Botswana, was looking enviously at the quantities of diamonds found in the country. “In Botswana it takes mining companies more than 100 tonnes to produce one carat of diamond but in Zimbabwe one tonne can produce 15 carats.’’
 
Mpofu said the government was still facing problems in trying to stop the smuggling of diamonds across the border to Mozambique.“The world over it is very difficult to control leakages but at the moment our security system in Chiadzwa (Marange) is second to none. However, remember there is more than 1,000 kilometres that cover the area near the Mozambique border and obviously there could be some leakages. Even superpowers such as USA are having problems controlling the flow of drugs from neighbouring countries at their borders."