Zimbabwe Govt Demanding Answers About Low Diamond Revenues

Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Fred Moyo.

(IDEX Online News) – The Zimbabwean government is to summon diamond companies mining in the controversial Marange diamond area to find out why their revenues are so low.

Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development Fred Moyo said diamond production targets are not being met, so officials will request information from the mining firms regarding revenues and profits, according to The Zimbabwe Mail.

President Robert Mugabe’s party has in the past blamed low revenues on the sanctions that were imposed on Zimbabwe’s diamonds. However, the KP lifted sanctions in 2011 and the European Union lifted sanctions in September.

Moyo also said the boards of the state mining corporation and the minerals marketing corporation are to be restructured.

Kimberley Process (KP) documents whose access is restricted to KP members show that four mines operating in the Marange area exported more than $717 million of diamonds between November 2011 and October 2012 and paid 15 percent of that, around $107 million, in royalties to the government, according to the report.