RAPAPORT… Anjin, a Chinese state company, is awaiting Kimberley Process certification to export its stockpile of rough diamonds mined at Zimbabwe’s Marange fields, according to Zimbabwe’s deputy mines minister Gift Chimanikire.
Although the minister could not verify the amount of diamonds the company has stockpiled so far, industry sources told ZimOnline that the company could be holding as much as 1.5 million carats of Marange rough.
“Anjin is now awaiting certification from the Kimberley Process,” Chimanikire said. “It has stockpiled diamonds [that] cannot be exported until the Kimberley Process certifies them.”
Anjin, along with Mbada Diamonds, Marange Mineral Resources (formerly Canadile), Pure Diamonds, a Lebanese firm, and Sino Zim, have licenses to mine at the Marange diamond fields, also known as the Chiadzwa fields.
The status of diamonds mined from Marange remains unclear. The Kimberley Process banned exports from the region in 2009 because of concerns over human rights abuses and has still been unable to reach consensus among its members on allowing exports.
Earlier in March, Kimberley Process chairman Mathieu Zamba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) unilaterally decided to give Zimbabwe permission to export the stones, angering many Kimberley Process participants.
Several international diamond trade groups, including the World Diamond Council, Jewelers of America, and the Diamond Manufacturers & Importers Association of America urged members of the trade not to deal in these goods.