Zimbabwe Official Calls On Investors to Develop Country's Diamond Business

Fred Moyo, Zimbabwe's deputy minister of mines and mining development, said the state has in excess of 100 kimberlite pipes which it needs foreign partners to help exploit.

Moyo spoke at an annual mining and infrastructure conference in the capital, Harare. It has been difficut for the country to persuade foreign investors to invest in Zimbabwe due to the country's volatile political situation and American sanctions against its political leaders.

Foreign investors have also been put off by the government's decision to merge all the firms mining in the Marange area.

Toi Muganyi, president of the Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe, said the country's diamond production had fallen and that would have a significant impact on the country’s mineral revenues. He told the meeting that Zimbabwe produced just over 2.241 million carats of rough diamonds in the first eight months of this year putting it on course to fall short of the annual target of 3.36 million carats.