A meeting in Israel to decide on the fate of diamonds from the Marange fields reached a stalemate by late Wednesday, but Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe's mines minister, said the country would go ahead and sell its diamonds.
It is not for nothing that Zimbabwe is anxious to start trading its diamonds. According to a new report by an international diamond expert, it can produce up to a quarter of the world's diamond wealth. It is news that will either cheer a country that has been denied international aid to fund its economic recovery, or raise the threat of an even more bitter battle for control of the diamond fields.
Chaim Even-Zohar, head of renowned Israeli diamond consultancy, Tacy, told the meeting of the Kimberley Process diamond watchdog that his first-hand investigation of the diamond fields indicated that Zimbabwe could be sitting on more diamond wealth than was previously thought.
"Presenting some figures on the diamond potential of Zimbabwe, Even-Zohar considered that the country has the potential to become a supplier of some 25% of the global diamond supply in terms of value within just a few years," a statement released after Even-Zohar's presentation said.
His assessment chimed with an earlier statement from the African Diamond Council, a group of African diamond producers, which said large international diamond producers had underestimated Zimbabwe's diamond wealth.
"International mining companies have inaccurately overlooked Zimbabwe's diamond potential and several global diamond organisations have been taken aback subsequent to recognising the government's competence to stockpile more than 5-million carats [of] rough diamonds," the council's chairperson, André Jackson, said.
De Beers gave up concessions in the Marange fields in 2006. The company has said the deposit "did not fit the profile of our other activities elsewhere in Southern Africa".
The concession was taken over by African Consolidated Resources, but the government later seized it, sparking a row that has now brought Zimbabwe's diamond trade on to the international stage.
Source : mg.co.za