Diamond mining firm on expansion drive

PHILLIMON MHLANGA IN VICTORIA FALLS
The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) will soon embark on a comprehensive exploration in the Mutare District to determine the extent of diamonds in the area, the company’s chief executive officer, Moris Mpofu  disclosed.
Exploration will help the company with geological data, which is the most important part of the mining cycle, a process through which commercial concentrations of the resource are discovered.
ZCDC last year engaged the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment  study for the proposed  diamond exploration project at Mutare Rural District Portal Q, an area which was  previously mined by Diamond Mining Company (DMC). Now, the company is ready to begin the exploration project.
 “We are restructuring our operations and the expansion drive we are about to undertake will see us investing heavily into exploration this year,” Mpofu told delegates at the CEO Africa Roundtable meeting in the resort town of Victoria Falls today.
ZCDC, which is last year produced more than two million carats of the yellow metal, up from 1,7 million carats produced in 2017,  is aiming to produce about 10 million carats in the next four years.
To achieve this, Mpofu said the company, which is now focusing on mining conglomerate diamonds after the depletion of alluvial deposits, need about $400 million. He said once that production target is achieved, Zimbabwe will be one of the top five rough diamond producers in the world.
ZCDC was created in 2016 after government took control of all diamond concessions in Chiadzwa, a ward in Mutare District. There were several companies mining diamonds in Chiadzwa, including Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, DMC, Jinan, Rera, Kusena and Gye Nyame.
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