Invest in new technologies, diamond sector urged

GOVERNMENT has said there is need to invest in modern technologies in the diamond sector to realise full benefit from the country’s diamond endowment.

In a speech read on his behalf by director of human resources in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Mr Dzidzisai Maenzanise at an all-stakeholders diamond security conference in Mutare recently, Minister Winston Chitando said strategies needed to be implemented in the sector.

“These include investment in appropriate modern technologies, undertaking new exploration projects to discover new mines and exploration on existing mines to extend life of mine,” he said.

Minister Chitando said there was need to ramp up production to full capacity by operating mines and expansion of current design capacities by existing producers.

“This, therefore, calls for enhanced adoption of more efficient and effective technologies throughout the diamond value chain, particularly in exploration, mining, beneficiation and value addition and relevant service streams to the industry,” he said.

Minister Chitando said Government should continuously assess the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to see if it had appropriate and desirable capacities so that it could respond with appropriate strategies for developing the country’s diamond resource to the benefit of all Zimbabweans.

“Diamonds are a high value and low volume commodity, their widespread distribution in Marange calls for optimised exploitation, security and accountability of the resource,” he said.

ZCDC chief executive Dr Morris Mpofu said the company had plans to invest in a state-of-the-art diamond value management centre, which would ensure the sorting, cleaning and cutting of diamonds was done electronically instead of manually.

He said the shortage of foreign currency in the country was one of the major risks threatening the bottomline of Zimbabwe’s diamonds.

“Availability of financing and foreign exchange is a key risk area that needs to be looked at,” said Minister Chitando.

“It is difficult to invest in machinery and technologies that will result in meaningful production of our diamonds if there is no forex and that negatively impact any meaningful increase in production we might have in mind.”