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Zimbabwe produced diamonds worth US$334 million last year.
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa yesterday said the latest ranking proved that Zimbabwe was not a charity case and had enough resources to finance development.

“This is an acknowledgement that Zimbabweans have resources to develop their country. It is, however, unfortunate that Zimbabwe is being compared with some countries that are not under sanctions . . . countries that have no restrictions when selling their diamonds.
“If there were no illegal sanctions and some complications at the KP, we will be the biggest diamond producer in the world. We have the resources and we deserve to be on the top. America and

Britain should remove the sanctions and the world will see what Zimbabwe is capable of doing,” he said.
Last Friday’s rankings show that Botswana is the world’s top gem producer with US$2,5 billion followed by Russia, which produced diamonds worth US$2,380 billion and Canada that produced diamonds valued at US$2,300 billion.

South Africa comes in on fourth position after it produced US$1,800 billion gems, while Angola produced US$976 million and is rated fifth, Namibia is now ranked sixth after producing US$744 million diamonds.

Most of Zimbabwe’s diamonds are mined at Marange fields, while others are from River Ranch Mining Company.
During the period under review, global rough diamond production rose 39 percent by value year on year in 2010 to US$12 billion, according to the KP.

The value figure was still below the peak year of 2008 when production reached a US$12.73 billion mark.
In terms of carat volume, rough diamond production rose nearly 7 percent to 133.12 million carats.

The average price per carat produced rose 30 percent to US$90.13.
The value of a carat from Zimbabwe almost doubled from $21.20 to $40.28 in the same period.
Zimbabwe produced gems worth $339.8 million last year, up from $20.4 million in 2009, the reports shows.

Mr Masimirembwa said companies mining diamonds in Zimbabwe had made significant investment in state-of-the art equipment against a backdrop of illegal sanctions.
Some Western countries that imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe have been putting pressure on the KP members to ban Zimbabwe from exporting diamonds from Marange, citing human rights abuses among other issues.

However, some African diamond producing countries have stood by Zimbabwe, arguing that the country met minimum standards required.
The country is pinning hope on diamond revenue and recently Government award its workers salary increment, with the bulk of the money coming from proceeds of gems.

Although Cabinet had approved a salary increment for Government workers, Finance Minister, Mr Tendai Biti, has been insisting that there was no money and that any salary adjustment would see other Government obligations suffering from cash squeeze.