Chitando refutes diamond looting allegations
Minister of Mines and Mining Development Winston Chitando has refuted allegations of diamond looting in Chiadzwa and said there are only four authorised diamond miners in the country.
Business reporter
This was in response to online news that has been making headlines these past few days of how 12 diamond mining companies are clandestinely extracting diamonds worth billions of dollars in Chiadzwa.
An unnamed source told the Zim Morning Post that “The 12 mining companies have made easy the siphoning of billions of dollars in Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of some powerful individuals,”.
Speaking to the State broadcaster Chitando said, “In terms of of the provisions of the diamond policy, there are four companies who are allowed to undertake diamond mining in Zimbabwe. The first being Murowa Diamonds, second being ZCDC, the third being Anjin and the fourth being Alrosa. These are only four companies being allowed to undertake diamond mining in Zimbabwe”.
“Specific to the Marange Chiadzwa area there is the presence of only 3 companies. There is ZCDC which continues to mine, there is Anjin who have started limited mining and are also opening up other areas to increase their mining throughput. Thirdly there is Alrosa which is actually not in the Marange Chiadzwa area. They are undertaking exploration activities. They are outside the Marange/ Chiadzwa area and actually they are doing it throughout the whole country. They have up to seventeen sites throughout the whole country but which includes one or two areas in Marange area”.
Late former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe once blamed corruption and looting for loss of revenue in Chiadzwa. He said the government had failed to account for diamonds worth more than US$15 billion “We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. I don’t think we have exceeded US$2 billion, yet we think more than US$15 billion has been earned,” Mugabe said.
