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Aurex Holdings workers busy at the company’s $1,1 million new diamond cutting and polishing plant. — (See story on Page B3) (Picture by Munyaradzi Chamalimba)

Martin Kadzere : Senior Business Reporter

AUREX Holdings, which recently commissioned a diamond cutting and polishing plant, has entered into a toll manufacturing arrangement with Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company to add value to the latter’s gems. Toll manufacturing is an arrangement where a company provides its raw materials or semi-finished goods to a third-party service provider for processing.The service provider, who often has specialised equipment or infrastructure, provides a subset of manufacturing processes on behalf of the company using those materials or goods for a fee.

Aurex, a division of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, commissioned the $1,1 million state of the art plant in May this year. The plant has capacity to process between 2500 and 10 000 carats per month of rough diamonds depending on the size of the stones. Aurex said that the toll manufacturing arrangement with ZCDC will boost its production.

“We need to champion the development of the industry,” Aurex general manager Engineer Pasipaipa Munhumutema said while addressing journalists during the tour of the plant in Ruwa yesterday.

Aurex said that it has plans, not only to value add the country’s rough diamonds, but to champion the setting up of a diamond cutting and polishing value chain industry in Zimbabwe. It is estimated Zimbabwe has reserves of diamonds enough to account for a quarter of global trade in diamonds.

“Apart from toll manufacturing, we are also working with the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe to look for markets where the country can derive better value from the local diamonds,” Mr Munhumutema said.

“Aurex will further benefit from toll arrangement with Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company, thus creating downstream and upstream business opportunities,” he said.

Aurex contends it has potential to be a major exporter of cut and polished diamonds and the toll arrangement with ZCDC provides the initial steps to that end.

Aurex Diamonds is a subsidiary of Aurex Limited, which was formed in 1991 as a joint venture between RBZ through ResZim, which had 67 percent shareholding and Tower of Gold of Israel, the technical partner, with 33 percent.