![]() ![]() Their Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) expired in 2006 and exploration rights were taken up by African Consolidated Resources. The average diamond price from the mine was $60 - $180 per carat.ĭe Beers’ subsidiary Kimberlitic Searches was also responsible for the discovery of Marange diamonds in the 1980s. Trial mining started in 2010 while full production began in late 2012.Įquity Communications claimed that the diamond resource in Chimanimani was richer than that in Marange but substantially smaller. There was also the little-known DTZ-OZGEO, a joint venture between Zimbabwe and Russia, which was awarded a special grant to explore for diamonds in Chimanimani, east of Zimbabwe.ĭiamond deposits in the area were officially discovered in 2008 on a farmland. However, reserves at Murowa were recently decreased following a pit redesign and re-classification of material,” Equity Communications said. “Capital costs of expansion would have been in excess of $200 million. Mining operations are a combination of small open pit and underground construction.Īn expansion programme to increase ore processing capacity to 2 million tonnes per annum was planned in 2007 but the operating environment made the project unworkable. ![]() The deposit consisted of three kimberlite pipes in close proximity to each other. It’s a kimberlite.Įquity Communications said that Rio Tinto Zimbabwe discovered the Murowa kimberlite cluster between 19. There were reports that ZMDC was planning to buy the stake but it was not known whether the deal sailed through or festered.Īnother diamond mine in Zimbabwe was 78 percent owned by Rio Tinto and it’s known as Murowa Mine. The mine was currently mothballed and Limpopo Mineral Resources announced last year that it was selling its stake. Last known production figures were released in 2009 and the company had produced 75 000 carats. It was re-opened in 2004 under a different ownership structure: Limpopo Mineral Resources, 80 percent (Saudi Arabian) and Khupukile Resources, 20 percent (Zimbabwean). However, the company haemorrhaged money per every ore mined due to low diamond prices and it was forced to shut down in 1998. It then announced plans to build a small-scale production plant.Ī 500 000 tonnes-per-year processing plant at River Ranch was commissioned two years later and the mine was also expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes of ore annually in 1996 and produce 500 000 carats per year during its projected 10 - year life span. The company completed its exploration services in 1992, confirming that diamonds had been found at the concession, said Equity Communications. When De Beers left the country, Auridiam Consolidated – an Australian and Canadian joint-venture – obtained a permit to develop the River Ranch diamond concession at a cost of about $12 million. River Ranch, in Beitbridge (which borders Zimbabwe and South Africa’s Limpopo province) is the country’s first (kimberlite) diamond mine, according to Equity Communications.ĭiamonds at River Ranch were discovered in 1971 (nine years before Zimbabwe’s independence) by Kimberlitic Searches, a subsidiary of De Beers.ĭe Beers relinquished its rights to the area in 1991 after a dispute with the government over the marketing of the diamonds. ![]() However, diamond mining in Zimbabwe is not only Marange rather there is more to talk about than you often read or hear in the media. You are probably not in the know as you are only aware of Marange diamond fields, which had been in the news since 2006. Did you know that diamond mining in Zimbabwe started more than three decades ago? ![]()
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