Zimbabwe needs ALROSA’s sophisticated diamond exploration technology

By Mathew Nyaungwa

There were reports last April that Russia’s diamond monopoly ALROSA is considering resuming business in Africa, which it put on hold in 2009.

Kommersant newspaper reported at the time that ALROSA had been in talks with the Angolan government and also planned to set up ventures in Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Last month, ALROSA and the Angolan state-diamond miner Endiama signed a joint venture agreement to survey and prospect diamonds outside of the Catoca diamond mine project. ALROSA and Endiama own 32.8-percent stakes in Catoca respectively.

Endiama chairperson Carlos Sumbula said the companies would continue with geological surveys carried out over the last two years.

“In the last two years we have carried out geological surveys in Angola and concluded that only 10 percent of alluvial diamonds that we have explored have come from known kimberlite deposits,” he said.

“Therefore it was time to launch the second phase to prospect national territory in order to find most of the kimberlite deposits that have yet to be discovered.”

Alrosa president Fedor Andeev also said that geological studies showed that Angola’s diamond potential totalled around 1 billion carats. Of over 1,000 known kimberlite deposits, only three are being explored, including the Catoca mine, which accounts for 87 percent of Angola’s diamond production.

Meanwhile, Botswana Diamonds, which holds 13 exploration licenses in the southern African country told Rough & Polished, an industry news agency that it would likely sign a Joint Venture with ALROSA for the purpose of looking for new kimberlite bodies.

Company executive chairperson John Teeling said ALROSA will use new technology to identify large diamondiferous kimberlites in Orapa.

“We negotiated a joint venture agreement with a world class diamond producer (ALROSA… Botswana Diamonds has already signed and we are now waiting for the diamond major to do so. This is a significant development [for our company],” he said.

Teeling said that Alrosa’s technology can identify kimberlites under 80 or 100 meters of sand, salt and basalt. Kommersant sources said that ALROSA is expected to spend about $1 million in Botswana this year.

It is also understood that the Russian diamond miner is looking for a partner in Zimbabwe to set up a joint venture for the geological exploration of diamond-rich areas in the Marange diamond fields.

Zimbabwe had its diamond mining fortunes boosted some few years ago following the discovery of vast alluvial diamond fields in Marange. Prior to that diamond production took place at Rio Tinto’s 78 percent owned Murowa Diamond Mine and River Ranch in Beitbridge.

Both are kimberlites.

However, there had been disturbing reports that diamond revenues from Marange are not finding its way to the Treasury coffers. Zimbabwe Mining Development Coperation, which has partnered with some foreign firms to mine diamonds in Marange, denied the allegations.

Although an aeromagnetic survey of the Marange area revealed anomalies with huge potential in green field diamond exploration, some analysts are of the opinion that the alluvial diamonds in Marange will not be easily found on the surface in five years as is the case at the moment.

This means that companies operating in the area will have to go deeper, which is however capital intensive. That will reduce output, which World Bank said could reach 15,2 million carats a year by 2018 with an investment of $150 million.

There is no doubt that ALROSA’s technology will help Zimbabwe find more diamond deposits not only in Manicaland but across the country. Teeling said the Russians’ technology and computer programmes can refine data that is available from geophysics and geochem.

He said ALROSA’s sophisticated exploration technology had previously helped it discover 17 hard-rock diamond mines in Siberia.

“These guys (ALROSA) will find things below 100 metres and it is completely a new territory. This opens up a vista of multiple new mines and these guys have proven that they can do it,” he said.