CHIADZWA BLINGS WITH 1,4M CARATS:
THE Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company’s production output in Chiadzwa rose 72,8 percent to 1,4 million carats (280kg) in the first nine months of the year, up from 810 000 in the same period last year, it has been learnt.
Production level now nears 200 000 carats (40kg) monthly.
From last year, output has now surpassed 3,3 million carats after Government consolidated diamond mining operations at Chiadzwa and decided to cancel licences for private miners Anjin, Jinan, Diamond Mining Corporation, Kusena, Mbada and Gye Nyame as it sought to derive maximum value from the diamonds.
The development came after President Mugabe last year called for the country to follow international best practices as established in jurisdictions like Botswana, where diamond mining is consolidated under a single firm.
Essentially, ZCDC has the mandate to mine the Chiadzwa diamond fields that cover approximately 800 000 hectares. ZCDC chief executive officer Dr Moris Mpofu, told The Herald Business recently that the company will shift its focus to conglomerate mining plans to sustain production for a longer period of time.
“We are moving in the right direction as ZCDC has already surpassed its yesteryear production by a wider margin, producing about 1,419 million carats as at September 11 2017. This is a 72,8 percent rise from last year’s output of 810 000 carats by September 30. We expect that through the implementation of its Diamond Mining Business Model aimed at ensuring operational efficiency, production effectiveness, capacity enhancement and business optimisation, the company will continue at the same footing of above 200 000 carats per month,” said Dr Mpofu.
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 has increased its stockpiles and has an extra 1, 25 million diamond carats in stock waiting for Government and neighbouring countries’ valuations. The sorting and valuation capacity is also being reoriented through development of a state-of-the-art sort house to ensure effective diamond value management.
Due to the depletion of alluvial deposits, ZCDC is transiting to conglomerate mining to get the rich diamond deposits underground.
ZCDC is now pushing beyond increasing production to developing a new framework on sorting, cleaning and valuation.
The recapitalisation was a multi-staged programme, which would largely focus on modifications of the mining operations and processes.
The company will intensify exploration programmes to build up the life spans of the mines.
ZCDC’s move to conglomerate mining started in August with over half of the Belarus equipment already in the country for extraction.
Earlier this year, ZCDC received a US$80 million cash injection from Government to help them in exploration and valuations. Another 60 trucks of equipment is expected to come from South Africa to enhance Chiadzwa’s mining operations.