HARARE The Zimbabwean government is willing to engage British mining firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) in negotiations to resolve an ownership dispute over the controversial Marange diamond field, a top official said last week. “This dispute has to be solved and a solution has to be found in view of forging a partnership,” Deputy Mines Minister Murisi Zwizwai said last Thursday.
He added: “The solution has to be for the benefit of everyone. The companies that are there (in partnership with ZMDC) are just operating from a certain portion of Chiadzwa and not the whole area. Chiadzwa is a big place which cannot be operated by a small company.”
ACR holds right of title to claims on the Marange diamond field that was seized by the Harare government in October 2006.
Harare earlier this month engaged two private firms to partner state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) in mining the claims despite a High Court ruling last September that confirmed ACRs ownership of the Marange deposits.
The government has said it will appeal against the High Court ruling while ACR has vowed to fight in the courts any attempt to strip the firm of its rights over the diamond claims.
Marange is one of the worlds most controversial diamond fields with reports that soldiers send to guard the claims after the government took over committed gross human rights abuses including murder against illegal miners who had descended on the field following the expulsion of ACR.
A team from the Kimberley Process (KP), the world diamond industry watchdog, that visited Zimbabwe at the end of last June condemned rights violations and rampant smuggling of diamonds that it said were being committed by soldiers based at Marange.
But a KP meeting in Namibia about three weeks ago decided against banning Zimbabwe diamonds from the world market and instead agreed to give Harare more time to review operations at Marange and improve security arrangements to comply with the organisations standards.
However a leading international diamond trading network has banned members from trading in diamonds from Marange citing concerns over severe human rights violations at the diamond field.
The Rapaport Diamond Trading Network that connects thousands of some of the best diamond suppliers and buyers around the world has said that members found dealing in diamonds from Marange would be denied access to the network.
Zimbabwean diamonds not sourced from Marange are not banned.
Post published in: Economy