HARARE - African Consolidated Resources (ACR) says it is negotiating with the Zimbabwe government over the possibility of a joint venture project at controversial Marange diamond fields, a move seen as a compromise by the British firm which legally owns the disputed mining claims in the area but is being denied rights to carry ouAn ACR spokesman said negotiations with Harare could lead to a mutually-beneficial deal for Zimbabwe and the firm.
The British company won a High Court ruling on 24 September which confirmed it as the legal owner of the claims over the Marange diamond field.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana has, however, said the Zimbabwean government would appeal against the judgement.
“Notwithstanding the statement of the Attorney General, the company is in discussions with government concerning a joint venture on the Marange diamond field which will benefit both the Company and the people of Zimbabwe,” the ACR spokesman said.
It was not clear whether Harare would accept the joint venture proposal amid reports that the Ministry of Mines had drawn up a shortlist of two unnamed foreign mining firms which it wants to run the mines instead.
ACR bought mining rights to the Marange diamond fields in February 2006 but was evicted eight months later by authorities in Harare.
That prompted illegal mining of the site, followed by a violent and bloody backlash by the Zimbabwean military in which over 200 artisan miners were reportedly killed.
The crackdown saw widespread arrests, beatings and killings of anyone suspected of involvement in unsanctioned diamond mining or smuggling.
ACR launched a legal battle after its eviction to challenge the decision and regain control of the 100 000-acre field.
Following its victory over the case at the Zimbabwe High Court, Justice Charles Hungwe told the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, now in possession of the site, to stop mining the fields and ordered the power-sharing government to restore ownership to the firm.
Human rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe of authorising attacks on artisan miners by the army.
In June the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch cited accounts from more than 100 witnesses, miners, police officers, soldiers and children alleging human rights abuses by troops.
It said its researchers had gathered evidence of mass graves and accounts of an incident in which military helicopters fired on miners while armed soldiers on the ground chased villagers away.
The military are now accused of press-ganging local people to mine for them in return for a pittance. Villages and towns deemed too close to the diamond fields were demolished and their residents forced to move away.
At the height of the mini-boom and before the military crackdown, the nearby city of Mutare was seen as a “wild west” town with cash-rich miners flaunting their wealth in new goods, cars and US dollars.
The diamonds would be smuggled out through the nearby Mozambique border where dealers from Lebanon, Belgium, Iraq, Mauritania and the Balkans were waiting to buy in cash.
Post published in: Economy