Mugabe sees diamond industry boosting economy

HARARE - The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has lost a staggering 1,440,507 carats of diamonds due to outdated processing equipment, according to the Auditor-General's report for the year ended December 31, 2023.

By Eddie Cross I am not sure of the details but around the year 2000, a geological exploration team found alluvial diamonds at Marange in Zimbabwe. They cut trenches and did further exploration for a number of years, until in 2006, they decided to abandon the claims and moved off site. They left behind the shell of a land rover with a computer disc in the cubby hole containing much of the geological information they had uncovered. A small public company in Britain formed by Zimbabweans, watched these events closely and when it became apparent that the claims were open, they flew out to Zimbabwe and took over the claims. They found the computer disc and very quickly discovered gem quality diamonds. Because of the potential impact on their share price they published a small notice in a British newspaper and the notice came to the attention of the then Minister of Mines in Zimbabwe. What followed was one of the greatest heists in world history. The Ministry took over the claims and in 2008 they established 6 companies with the right to mine diamonds on the site. In the next 8 years an estimated US$24 billion in rough diamonds was extracted from an area of 60 000 hectares of alluvial sand and soil in the Marange area. After costs of about US$7 billion, nearly US$17 billion in raw diamond revenues vanished. Even the President said at one stage that US$15 billion was 'missing'. It makes the UK 'Great Train Robbery' look like pocket change.

Despite the general consensus that the country did not benefit from the previous mining regime that existed in the Chiadzwa diamond fields before the formation of the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), events on the ground suggest that it may not be long before we revert to the old order, which prejudiced the fiscus of billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Powerful military and political elites and security forces have controlled and secretly exploited Zimbabwe’s once promising diamond sector, while concealing the scale of the loss to its people, a new report from Global Witness reveals.

The diamond merger that took over gem extraction in Marange, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has commenced operations and sales.