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Dr Mpofu

Herald Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) is expecting a 105 percent diamond increase to two million carats by year end, from last year’s output of 950 000 carats due to taking off of kimberlite mining. Kimberlite or conglomerate mining is when a company or an association mine underground diamond resources for sustainability and this is the new phase that ZCDC has taken.

Through President Mugabe’s intervention, Government cancelled licences granted to Anjin, Jinan, Diamond Mining Corporation, Kusena, Mbada and Gye Nyame last year to bring sanity to the diamond sector. Buoyed by the last two months’ strong performance, the consolidated diamond mining company is expected to surpass the target.

Chiadzwa diamond fields, which covered approximately 800 000 hectares, has started exploiting the precious mineral for sustainability and growth. ZCDC chief executive Dr Morris Mpofu told The Herald last week that the new diamond mining method has already started paying dividends and expected a continuous improvement by the coming in of more machinery.

“With the way kimberlite mining is taking shape, we anticipate to reach a total output of over two million carats by year end, which will be a 105 percent increase from last year’s output of 950 000 carats. The idea of ZCDC reaching out that output merely depends on the sustainability of conglomerate mining in all our mines, which we took off in August this year, said Dr Mpofu.

ZCDC expected that the Diamond Mining Business Model will improve operational efficiency, production effectiveness, capacity enhancement and business optimisation to reach the monthly targets of 200 000 carats. Production has been steadily rising this year from 98 060 carats in January, 152 360 (February), 172 098 (March), 196 090 (April), 227 405 (May) and 238 547 (June).

Comparatively, last year nothing was produced in January, with 50 000 carats mined in February, 220 000 in March, 224 000 in April, 98 000 in May and 52 000 in June. As no auctions have been held since February 2017, ZCDC is working on increasing stockpiles. The country is wrapping up the sale of 1,25 million carats of enhanced diamond stockpiles to derive more value from the precious mineral. The sole diamond mining company in the country is now pushing beyond increasing production to developing a new framework on sorting, cleaning and valuation.

ZCDC expects to get around $100 per carat from the previous $45, which translates to around $200 million. The selling process is involving the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and foreign buyers. More underground mining equipment is coming to intensify the kimberlite mining, which will sustain mining for long life span.

This will give investors’ confidence to heavily capitalise on this kind of sustained mining. Earlier this year, ZCDC received $80 million cash injection from Government to help them in exploration and valuations. This month, ZCDC expected 60 trucks of equipment to come from South Africa to enhance Chiadzwa’s mining operations.