Zimbabwe is projected to satisfy 30 percent of world diamond demand by 2015 and the West, which has been hostile to the country, has a lot to benefit from normalising relations with President Mugabe’s Government, a top conference was told recently.                              

World-renowned diamond industry analyst Mr Chaim Even Zohar told the annual Prospectors and Developers’ Association of Canada conference that diamonds from Marange are a game changer.

“Zimbabwe could hold the future of the diamond industry,” Mr Zohar, who is a senior consultant at Israeli-based Tacey Limited, told over 30 000 delegates at the conference which ran earlier this month.“The Marange diamond field could easily supply 25 percent of the world’s supply by value and 30 percent by volume by 2015.

“The diamond market is beginning to act more like a commodity market because the diamond cartel has been broken up. That means price volatility will be greater.”

Turning to the long-discredited and American-sponsored view that President Mugabe was a human rights abuser hence Zimbabwe should not be selling its diamonds on the international market, Mr Zohar warned that Zimbabwe was too big a player to ignore.

“As an industry we have to find a way to work with him (President Mugabe),” Mr Zohar told the conference.

In an interview with the Israel Diamond Institute last week, the renowned analyst said the decision by the Kimberly Process to allow Zimbabwe to sell diamonds was a boon for the industry.

“The Kinshasa decision to allow exports from Marange was historic and good for the industry, and I will tell you why: Diamonds are almost like water; you can’t stop it.

“For the transparency of the industry, for the betterment of the industry, to having everything come officially, to have everything transparent is always better than any of the alternatives,” he said.

Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa concurred with Mr Zohar’s projections, stating that Zimbabwe has substantial reserves of the precious mineral.

“Obviously, the projection made by the firm (Tacey) is a clear reflection that the diamond industry is beginning to feel the presence of our diamonds on the international market.

“The amount of diamond reserves in Marange is yet to be quantified, but one thing that is clear is that Zimbabwe’s muscle on the world diamond industry is getting bigger,” he said.

Diamond commentators estimate that between 11 to 16 mines can profitably do business in Chiadzwa and each could produce about 10 million carats per annum.

Currently only three companies — Mbada, Marange and Anjin — are mining in the area, but Government has already indicated that it is in the process of assessing investment proposals from some of the leading mining companies in the world.