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The Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Cde Obert Mpofu, confirmed last week that his ministry had indeed received preliminary reports of the existence of diamonds in areas such as Binga, Masvingo and Tsholotsho.

Cde Mpofu said the ministry was now speeding up the launch of the Zimbabwe Minerals Explorations Corporation (ZMEC), a company that would be made up of mining engineers and geologists.
Cde Mpofu said the Government was working on modalities as well as short-listing experts that would constitute the new entity.
He said the setting up of an exploration company would help the country to account for the entire mineral wealth of the country.

“This is in view of the new minerals around the country whose extent and commercial viability have not been established,” said Cde Mpofu.
Cde Mpofu said there were unconfirmed reports of other new minerals, apart from diamonds, being discovered around the country, which needed to be verified.
“In a bid to deal with this development, Government is coming up with a policy through an organisation that will be called Zimbabwe Minerals Exploration Corporation that will comprise top mining engineers and geologists to study the occurrence of minerals through a greenfield explorations programme,” said Cde Mpofu.

He said Zimbabwe was one of the best known mining countries in the world with 40 different minerals having been produced at one time.
“As Government, we have very little knowledge of the country’s mineral wealth as the exploration has generally remained the domain of large mining companies due to large sums of money required to explore and the high risk,” said Cde Mpofu.

Exploration by nature is risky business, which requires huge financial injections.
The absence of extensive exploration work over the years has created a situation where most of the local underground minerals remain untapped.
The inception of ZMEC will complement mining explorations that are being undertaken by the private sector, albeit to a very minimal and negligible extent.
This means that the formation of an exploration company remains critical for Zimbabwe if the country is to reap maximum benefits from its mineral resources.
Cde Mpofu said knowledge of the mineral wealth would also help attract investors.- by Tafadzwa Chiremba