THE Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) says it has a mining business model that stretches to the year 2047, which focuses on sustainable conglomerate and kimberlitic mining adopted after alluvial diamonds ran out.
BY FIDELITY MHLANGA
ZCDC chief executive officer, Morris Mpofu said the company seeks to systematically address all legal and legacy issues to fully consolidate and usher in stability.
“The diamond mining business model (DMBM) stretches to 2047 in a staggered approach commencing with short term, medium term (12 to 24 months) and long term (24 to 60 months).
“The model focuses on run of mine (ROM) with sustainable conglomerate and kimberlitic mining, and processing against the backdrop of alluvial running out in all portals,” he told delegates at the Chamber of Mines conference last Friday.
ZCDC, Mpofu said, will delve into a confidence-building process involving a structured and staggered intense ore-resource evaluation programme, which would result in confidence levels increasing from an inferred resource of 20% to a measured resource of 85%.
Inferred mineral resource is the part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence, whereas measured resources can be mined in an economically viable manner.
Mpofu said the model would focus on the upstream, middle stream and downstream diamond value chain.
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He said ZCDC is expected to create a transparent and accountable marketing and sales model that delivers true and fair value to Treasury.
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, at the same event, said the Reserve Bank will have more control on diamond revenue.
“We have new management and we are getting weekly reports from diamond mining,” he said.
“We have said to ZCDC, since we are capitalising you, the diamonds are ours. Every output of diamonds will come to the fiscus through the RBZ and we feel that this will be a good thing for transparency and realisation of proceeds from diamonds.”
The RBZ says diamond exports from January to May 12 took a 46% dip to $27,7 million from $51,4 million during the same period last year.
Mpofu said he seeks to ensure that effective application of the diamond value management model by re-orienting the sorting and valuation framework to achieve high prices for Zimbabwe diamonds.
He said the company wants to achieve growth by creating a balance sheet of proven reserves and make ZCDC bankable to access capital resources to finance growth.
