Alrosa back to mine in Zimbabwe

Alrosa, one of the world’s top diamond miners, is returning to Zimbabwe after a more than two-year break as it expands outside Russia.

The company will develop new mining operations in the country with the support of the government, Alrosa said on Monday as Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited Moscow.

The Russian producer opened an office in Zimbabwe last month, CEO Sergey Ivanov said at a media conference.

Mnangagwa, who became president in 2017, sees diamonds as a key way to help revive Zimbabwe’s mining industry, which suffered years of decline. The government is considering waiving a rule that prevents foreign investors from holding controlling stakes in its diamond mines.

“We also seek to support Zimbabwe in the development of its diamond mining industry in line with industry’s best practices,” Ivanov said in a statement. Geologists and mining engineers from Alrosa will arrive in Zimbabwe in the next month to start operations.

Despite the country’s diamond riches, no major producers operate there. Rio Tinto Group sold its stake in a project in 2015 and gem giant De Beers quit the country more than a decade ago. Alrosa stopped working in the nation in 2016.

Zimbabwe’s diamond production has tumbled in recent years as easy pickings at the once vast Marange diamond fields have been exhausted. Output is down almost 75% in the past five years, with the nation now producing just a fraction of what Russia mines.

Human rights activists have accused Zimbabwe’s military of smuggling gems out of the country and said that little benefit has gone to state finances.

Alrosa has so far mostly focused on Russian fields, with its main overseas asset being a major stake in Angola’s Catoca mine.