Zimbabwe Diamond Auction Begins

150 150 Rapaport News

RAPAPORT… Diamonds from Chiadzwa, Zimbabwe were set to go to auction for the first of many such sales. The government-controlled newspaper The Herald stated that 300,000 carats of diamonds would be made available for sale through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) in partnership with Grandwell Holdings and Mbada Diamonds. The sales are in compliance with the Kimberley Process (KP), the newspaper stated.

Auctions of rough were to be conducted on “a regular basis” and will earn Zimbabwe “up to 80 percent of total sales revenue through a 50 percent weekly-by-weekly dividend, 10 percent royalty fee, 15 percent taxation and 5 percent resource-depletion fee,” according to The Herald.

Mbada Diamonds’ chairman, Robert Mhlanga, was quoted as saying that the auction would take place at the company’s newly converted diamond-processing facility at the Harare International Airport.

“This inaugural sale will be followed by a similar sale of another 300,000 carats next week, following about a month of diamond mining operations at Mbada’s Chiadzwa/Marange diamond fields,” Mhlanga stated.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) will attend the auction to ensure that the government collects the maximum revenue. The Herald reported that international buyers from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe had already arrived for the three-day auction.

LH