No diamond sale authorized: ACR

African Consolidated Resources (ACR), the British-based firm that legally owns the Marange diamond claims, revealed last week that High Court judge Barat Patel did not authorise the sale of diamonds mined at Marange but presently held at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for safe-keeping or those being held by the South African companies.

The state media has reported in the past two weeks that Patel has given Mbada Mining and Canadile Mining the green light to dispose of diamonds extracted from the controversial Marange fields, also known as Chiadzwa. It is essential to note that the High Court (judge) has not authorised the sale of the diamonds as has been widely reported. He was not at liberty to do so and was not asked by any of the parties to approve a sale, an ACR spokesperson said.

He said any sale of the Chiadzwa stones would be in violation of a February 16 Supreme Court judgement in which Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered that all diamonds acquired from the area be surrendered to the RBZ and that all mining activities cease until determination of the appeal against an earlier High Court ruling that granted ACR rights to the Marange claims.

ACR’s legal advice is that any sale of the disputed diamonds would be in conflict with the clear intention and the direct order of the Chief Justice in the 16 February Judgement, the spokesperson said. ACR was kicked off the diamond field in 2006 and replaced by the government-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) which formed two joint venture companies Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners with South African investors to exploit the resource.

The spokesperson said ACR would continue to lobby all offices of Government for a rational, just and fair settlement of the matter which could satisfy all stakeholders and bring about a final solution quickly. It is ACR’s contention that the intransigence of Mbada and Canadile, their lack of respect for the Court and their lack of will to compromise for the good of the nation is damaging Zimbabwe’s image at home and abroad and delaying the point when the diamonds discovered by it at Marange may benefit Zimbabwe transparently and fairly, he said.

Marange is one of the worlds most controversial diamond fields, with human rights groups accusing soldiers sent by the government to secure the field from illegal miners after ACRs expulsion of gross human rights abuses. Zimbabwe escaped a Kimberley Process (KP) ban last year but was given until next month to regularise mining operations in Chiadzwa and comply with the international diamond watchdogs requirements.

The KP monitors the diamond trade worldwide in order to prevent the sale of conflict diamonds to sponsor rogue regimes or rebel armies.