We Will Abide by KP, Offer 10% Run of Mine from All Production, Mpofu tells IDEX Online

Zimbabwe's Minister of Mines, Obert Mpofu, criticized De Beers, promised to be pro-business and abide by Kimberley process decisions, and defended the military take over of the Marange fields, during his visit to India this week.

In a speech at the 3rd Mines to Market conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, Mpofu mocked De Beers for not finding diamonds in Zimbabwe, "In 15 years, they could not find diamonds?" he asked, while also inviting them and others to come see Zimbabwe’s mines.

Earlier in the day, as a foreshadowing rebuttal, departing De Beers CEO Gareth Penny said De Beers used aerial surveillance that seeks anomalies associated with Kimberlitic diamond deposits, not alluvial, which Zimbabwe has.

Following a spontaneous astray, during which Mpofu spoke of his education in India, he turned to his notes and declared that Zimbabwe does not intend to nationalize any operations, contradicting statements made by President Robert Mugabe over the years.

He said that country intends to be a major player in the diamond industry and invited companies to come to Zimbabwe, promising "come and we will accommodate you," adding that, "the Chinese are there, and the Israelis are there big time." He also claimed that diamonds from Zimbabwe can be widely found in China, Israel and India.

Dismissing international criticism of the country, Mpofu defended the military raid on the Marange fields in 2009, where villagers had entered a deserted diamond field and started mining illegally. A Human Rights Watch report said that some 200 people were killed at that raid.

Following the publication of that report, Zimbabwe was banned from exporting diamonds from that region. "If we did anything wrong," Mpofu said, "that is restoring order from illegal diggers."

In an interview with IDEX Online, Mpofu said that his country will abide by any KP decisions "we will do so, you know, we have complied [so far]. We have met all the standards."

"We have no problem with the KPC per se, and with its charter as it stands right now. But, if you want to bring any amendments which will eliminate to our exports, then we are going to resist that."

In response to not receiving the review mission yet, Mpofu said, "Previously, when reports were negative, they would just pop-up within a week or two, but it is now over a month and nothing has come out. The report does not address the issues that were expected to be addressed, which was to come up with a negative report. [It] did not come out because it did not find anything regarding the compliance issues."

"We are going to abide by the views of the Kimberley Process, of which we are members and we also have the right to express our views."

"We are very confident that the majority of member states who matter are on our side and we will be allowed to resume exports and that would be the last meeting about Zimbabwe,” Mpofu said regarding his expectations for the KP decision in November on Zimbabwe’s exports.

The country is already assuming that exports will be allowed, and Mpofu's delegation included a large number of people involved in the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Center (ZDTC), a planned diamond polishing hub. To attract manufacturers, the country is now drafting a beneficiation law.

"Many African countries produce diamonds, and after that, they disappear in the value chain. Part of our future strategy, we are looking at a policy which will regulate the industry towards value addition. And we've seen that countries that polish have done batter than the miners, in this case the African producers, who mine and then [sell]," Mpofu told us.

"This again, will require some investment within the country, which will bring about technology transfer, which [will] bring about new ideas on how to handle that particular diamond decision.”

“You see, what we have done in Zimbabwe, even before the implementation of that value addition policy, we have as a deliberate policy, a measure to set aside 10 percent of all the diamonds produced in Zimbabwe towards value addition. And we feel that if that percentage is not enough for the local polishers, we have agreed to increase it according to the demands."

Mpofu emphasized that the ten percent will come from all diamonds produced in the country, hinting that Rio Tinto's Murowa mine will need to sell a tenth of its production locally. At this stage, the country is talking about ten percent run of mine, not just goods fit for local production.