RE: Whilst we wait for the Rubber Stamp7 Aug 2018 14:03
Any diamond exploration in Zimbabwe would be carried out in accordance with Zimbabwe’s joint ownership laws on diamonds.
LONDON-listed resources firm Botswana Diamonds, which recently signed a joint venture partnership with Vast Resources, said it was optimistic of making significant diamond finds in Zimbabwe.
“You may recall that Vast Resources has its origins in Africa Consolidated Resources, who are the discoverers of the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe,” James Campbell, Botswana Diamonds managing director, said.
Under the joint venture partnership signed in May, both companies agreed to exchange information from past exploration for diamonds in Zimbabwe and to form a special purpose vehicle, jointly owned by each company, for developing and exploiting diamond resources in the country.
Any diamond exploration in Zimbabwe would be carried out in accordance with Zimbabwe’s joint ownership laws on diamonds.
Campbell said that partnerships help to mitigate risks given the volatile business environment in most African nations.
In February 2016, the Zimbabwe government gave all diamond mining companies a 90-day ultimatum to remove their equipment from mining concessions and ordered them to halt operations with immediate effect after they rejected a proposal to amalgamate their operations into the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).
The mining companies, including Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Jinan, Kusena, Marange Resources and Mbada Diamonds, were told that their licences to mine in Marange had expired.
However, government early this year changed its stance and indicated that private diamond firms may be allowed back into the country after realising ZCDC was struggling to fully exploit and explore the gems.
This probably prompted Botswana Diamonds and Vast Resources to resume their interest in Zimbabwe under the partnership.
“It’s all about risk management ― you’ll never know everything and nor can you fund everything so you’ve got to team up with like-minded people who have access to capital and technology,” Campbell said.
“We’ve got a portfolio of projects we believe each has a commercial chance of going all the way through to being a mine,” he added.
Botswana Diamonds also has an active joint venture with Alrosa, the world’s biggest diamond company.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s state diamond producer recorded a 44 percent increase in output in the first half of 2018 following investments in mining and processing capacity.
ZCDC recovered 1,6 million carats in the six months ending June 30, compared with 1,1 million carats a year ago. The company produced 594,000 carats in the same period in 2016.
Most of the rough diamonds are from the Marange fields, the nation’s largest diamond resource.
A large proportion of the diamonds are still in ZCDC’s inventory while the company restructures its sales and marketing operations. It conducted two test sales earlier this year, and plans to hold another sale soon
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