Business / Companies
Zim diamond firm becomes world largest diamond producer
15 Dec 2011 at 18:26hrs | Views
One of the four companies that are carrying out diamond mining operations in Chiadzwa, Marange District,
ANJIN Investments is now the largest diamond company in the world, this has been confirmed by KPC.
Munyaradzi Machacha, the director of Anjin, a 50-50 percent joint venture between Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and Anhui Foreign Economic Company Construction Limited of China (AFECC), said during a tour of the company's operations in Chiadzwa on Wednesday by local and foreign journalists that his company has put the diamonds on sale.
Machacha said it was not surprising that his company had such diamonds in its possession because it was now the largest diamond producer in the world. The company started mining last year in February.
"We are marketing our diamonds now after the Kimberley Processing Certificate Scheme (KPCS) cleared Zimbabwe in October to freely trade in its diamonds. We have carats worth US$3 million and some we sold two weeks ago," said Machacha.
"We are now the largest diamond company in the world and this has been confirmed by KPC. We are the largest mining diamond company in the world because we have surpassed the KPC minimum requirements. We are the largest in terms of the size of our area of operation and the amount of ore we are capable of processing everyday. We are also large in terms of the field, we have got the largest deposits in the world."
Machacha said what also made his company the largest in the world was because of its workforce, which is 1 500. A total of 80 percent of the workers were recruited from Manicaland Province. There are 210 Chinese in the company's ranks.
Machacha defended the partnership with AFECC, saying the Chinese company was one of the biggest in the world in the construction and mining industries. The company, which invested US$310 million in the
Marange diamond mining operation, has interests in 22 countries in the world among them Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, Machacha said the company has its fair share of problems as recently it was reported that there was an illegal strike as the workers downed tools demanding an increase of their salaries.
"Yes, we had a strike here as the workers went on an illegal strike demanding a salary increase. We had already started marketing our diamonds. The situation has, however, been put under control," he said.
Machacha also confirmed that there used to be fights between the local workers and their Chinese counterparts.
"The Chinese have no history of colonialism and so they never interacted with people from this part of the world. So those problems, which we were experiencing, had to do with the communication breakdown. The disputes were as a result of failure to understand each other," he said.
"I am glad to say it is now a thing of the past as these people have since devised a way of communicating to each other, which is only understood by the two parties."
Munyaradzi Machacha, the director of Anjin, a 50-50 percent joint venture between Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and Anhui Foreign Economic Company Construction Limited of China (AFECC), said during a tour of the company's operations in Chiadzwa on Wednesday by local and foreign journalists that his company has put the diamonds on sale.
Machacha said it was not surprising that his company had such diamonds in its possession because it was now the largest diamond producer in the world. The company started mining last year in February.
"We are marketing our diamonds now after the Kimberley Processing Certificate Scheme (KPCS) cleared Zimbabwe in October to freely trade in its diamonds. We have carats worth US$3 million and some we sold two weeks ago," said Machacha.
"We are now the largest diamond company in the world and this has been confirmed by KPC. We are the largest mining diamond company in the world because we have surpassed the KPC minimum requirements. We are the largest in terms of the size of our area of operation and the amount of ore we are capable of processing everyday. We are also large in terms of the field, we have got the largest deposits in the world."
Machacha said what also made his company the largest in the world was because of its workforce, which is 1 500. A total of 80 percent of the workers were recruited from Manicaland Province. There are 210 Chinese in the company's ranks.
Marange diamond mining operation, has interests in 22 countries in the world among them Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, Machacha said the company has its fair share of problems as recently it was reported that there was an illegal strike as the workers downed tools demanding an increase of their salaries.
"Yes, we had a strike here as the workers went on an illegal strike demanding a salary increase. We had already started marketing our diamonds. The situation has, however, been put under control," he said.
Machacha also confirmed that there used to be fights between the local workers and their Chinese counterparts.
"The Chinese have no history of colonialism and so they never interacted with people from this part of the world. So those problems, which we were experiencing, had to do with the communication breakdown. The disputes were as a result of failure to understand each other," he said.
"I am glad to say it is now a thing of the past as these people have since devised a way of communicating to each other, which is only understood by the two parties."
Source - TC
