Cabinet Approves Diamond Policy, Only 4 Companies Allowed To Mine And Explore

Acting Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon Mangaliso Ndlovu told journalists after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that ministers had approved the Zimbabwe National Diamond Policy.

Under the policy, only Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), Murowa Diamonds and two companies to be announced soon are approved to explore and mine diamonds. Any other entity or person with diamond mining title shall approach any of the 4 approved companies for Joint Venture arrangements. Government through ZCDC shall have 46% and the local Community Trust 5%. Government may waiver the local ownership threshold subject to satisfactory submissions and due diligence. Ndlovu said under the policy all rough diamonds shall be submitted to the Diamond Value Management Centre for cleaning, sorting and valuation except for Murowa Diamonds. Below is the statement as read by Ndlovu:

Cabinet approved the long-awaited Zimbabwe National Diamond Policy, which covers all the diamond value chain, namely: exploration, mining, processing, valuation, marketing, beneficiation, value addition, as well as the issues of capacity building, security and law enforcement. The key features of the Policy are as follows: that only the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), Murowa Diamonds, and two other companies to be approved by Government will be allowed to undertake diamond exploration and mining in the country; that any other entity or person with diamond mining title shall approach any one of the four approved companies for Joint Venture arrangements; that Government through 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; that Government may waiver that local ownership threshold subject to submission of satisfactory submissions and due diligence; that all rough diamonds produced from all diamond mining operations shall be submitted to the Diamond Value Management Centre, to be established by the ZCDC for cleaning, sorting and valuation, save for Murowa Diamonds; that private players shall participate in value addition after cleaning and sorting upon obtaining the necessary approvals; and that 10% of diamonds shall be reserved for local value addition. stages of the