Diamond Centre signs multi-million-dollar deal Cynthia Nare applies diamond powder on a diamond polishing machine at Zimbabwe Education College in Mount Hampden, Harare. Government will in the next two weeks come up with legislation to regulate the import and movement of diamonds required by cutting and polishing companies for beneficiation

Herald Reporter

Cynthia Nare applies diamond powder on a diamond polishing machine at Zimbabwe Education College in Mount Hampden, Harare. Government will in the next two weeks come up with legislation to regulate the import and movement of diamonds required by cutting and polishing companies for beneficiation

The Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre last week signed a multi-million dollar deal with an Indian firm Sahajanand Laser Technology Limited, under which it will receive state-of-the-art diamond beneficiation equipment.Chairman of the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre Mr Lovemore Kurotwi, yesterday said the deal was consistent with speed implementation of the country’s economic blueprint Zim-Asset, which prioritised beneficiation of minerals locally.

He described the equipment, which is expected in the country before the end of next month, as total solution to diamond cutting and polishing processes.

Mr Kurotwi said the new machinery from India had the capacity to cut and polish a diamond within a minute, which was a major shift from the traditional way of more than three days to cut and polish a piece of diamond.

“Cutting and polishing of diamond is now scientific and the equipment that we are getting from India is a total solution to beneficiation of our diamonds,” he said.

“As a country, we will now know how much we are going to make before cutting and polishing our diamonds,” he said. “The new equipment will enable us to cut and polish all diamonds mined in this country before marketing.”

Mr Kurotwi said Sahajanand Laser Technology was supplying most countries in the world with diamond equipment and Zimbabwe was also poised to benefit from skills transfer from the Indians including in the field of agro business. He said the agro equipment would be manufactured locally in line with the requirements of the local industry. Mr Kurotwi said the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre was working with Government in an effort to create a vibrant diamond industry as local diamonds accounted for an estimated 30 percent of rough gems in the world.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre was invited by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India from January 3-6.

Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry would be marketing its polished diamonds and showcasing jewellery products.

Mr Kurotwi said they would exploit the opportunity to tap knowledge on how other countries were marketing polished stones.

“For us it is a learning process to see how others are doing in the diamond industry,” he said.

Recently the executive head of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Professor Arun Kulshreshtha urged Zimbabwe to stop exporting rough diamonds as the country stands to accrue huge benefits from adding value to its precious stones.

Prof Kulshreshtha said the continued export of raw diamonds was akin to promoting“ a colonial mentality” adding that Zimbabwe should establish its own auction centre to trade its diamonds.

He said the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre had the potential to bring economic prosperity to the country and create employment for thousands.

Statistics showed that the diamond industry had the capacity to turn around the country’s economic fortunes and India had created more than 60 million jobs since it started to trade diamonds with Zimbabwe.

 

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