The government through the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company (ZCDC) is seeking investors willing to pump in $300 million to boost the company’s diamond mining operations. The ZCDC needs the money to purchase equipment to extract diamondiferous kimberlites after the alluvial diamonds on the surface or close to the surface seem to have run out. The equipment will enable the miners to extract diamonds which will be deeper in the earth. Recently, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Patrick Chinamasa admitted that the diamond sector was dead and was not contributing to the country’s foreign currency earnings.
The ZCDC was formed after the government took over all the diamond mines in Marange and consolidated them under one firm. The government claimed that the mining companies were not remitting all the diamond revenues to the state, hence the decision to consolidate all the mines under one. However, Presidential spokesperson George Charamba claimed that President Mugabe had lied that the company had lost at least $15 billion to the diamond mines so that the government could take over the diamond mines.
ZCDC acting chief executive officer, Ridge Nyashanu, said
The US$300 million you are talking about is a long-term projection of what we are looking for. We are at a stage where we are upgrading our plants to enable us to process conglomerate diamonds.
More: Financial Gazette