HARARE Mining giant Rio Tinto says diamond output at its 78 percent-owned Murowa Mine in Zimbabwe increased by 43 percent to reach 139 000 carats in 2010 despite a slump in production during the last quarter of the year. (Pictured: A woman wears a large diamond necklace)
The group said in a trading update that Murowas total production was 139 000 carats last year compared to 97 000 carats the previous year. Production however fell by about 29 percent from 42 000 carats in the last three months of 2010 compared to the previous quarter, according to the update.
The company did not give a reason for the slump in production although it has previously cited constant power outages as one of the main factors affecting operations at the mine. Murowa is majority owned by British-based resource firm Rio Tinto Plc while RioZim a wholly Zimbabwean-owned unit that emerged out of Rio Tinto in 2004 controls the remaining 22 percent stake.
It is one of three diamonds mines in Zimbabwe, the other two being the controversial Chiadzwa mine in Manicaland which is jointly operated by groups of Zimbabwean, South African and Chinese companies as well as the River Ranch Mine in the south of the country. Murowas operations are also threatened by President Robert Mugabes controversial indigenisation and black economic empowerment law.
The increasingly bellicose and defiant Mugabe is pushing for implementation of legislation that seeks to force all foreign-owned companies, including mines, to transfer majority shareholding to black Zimbabweans. This has rattled the mining industry that has overtaken agriculture as the largest employer in Zimbabwe and now accounting for about four percent of gross domestic product and contributing over 40 percent of all foreign currency inflows.
Rio Tinto, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum Holdings, the world’s largest and second largest platinum miners, Aquarius Platinum are among the major foreign mining companies operating in Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Economy