Diamond industry ready for KP review
Local diamond companies and stakeholders in the sector met this week to evaluate the country’s compliance levels ahead of the KP review in May this year.
PLAYERS in the Zimbabwe diamond industry are confident Zimbabwe has prepared adequately ahead of the next Kimberley Process (KP) compliance review in May.
The last KP review on Zimbabwe was in 2012. The forthcoming review presents an opportunity for the Zimbabwe diamond industry to demonstrate progress on flagged areas since then.
In its last review, the KP highlighted a few issues around social and governance matters relating to adherence to certification requirements, environmental concerns, clarity on diamond firms’ internal controls, observance of import and export controls as well as transparency on production and trade statistics.
Kimberley Process evaluation comprises three key pillars comprising Government, Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and diamond mining companies. Local diamond companies and stakeholders in the sector met this week to evaluate the country’s compliance levels ahead of the KP review in May this year.
Mining is a key element of Zimbabwe’s mining sector and the industry is expected to contribute US$1 billion to the envisioned US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.
The meeting this week came at a time the Government is running a pre-assessment exercise across the industry to evaluate the sector’s preparedness in line with a developed checklist used to gauge the industry’s state of compliance to the KP review. KP compliance entails meeting benchmarks including ensuring stakeholder engagement with local communities, which seeks to resolve legacy issues between producers and their host communities.
Previously communities in the Marange area, ARDA Transau, and Sese communal lands have raised issues around Community Share Ownership Trust (CSOT) and environmental protection. The last review reported on the deterioration of water quality in the Marange rivers since the start of the Marange diamond operations.
However, KP focal person in Zimbabwe, Arnold Mukombachoto, said a lot of work had been done by the miners and civil society organisations to ensure a better standard of living for the host communities.
Mr Mukombachoto said the country had been compliant with the KP certification requirements that call for each Kimberly process participant to accompany their shipment of rough diamonds with a KP certificate issued withevery export.
In 2012 the KP report, concerns were raised around the need for improvement of internal controls, which encompassed lack of perimeter fencing and inadequacy of security systems.
It also recommended clear working procedures during import and export of diamond parcels as well as manning of the ports of exit, particularly by security and revenue authorities.
Addressing stakeholders at the KP assessment awareness workshop in Harare, KP focal person Arnold Mukombachoto said the review was an opportunity for Zimbabwe to demonstrate progress achieved by the diamond sector since the last review.
Mr Mukombachoto, who is also deputy director of gold, PGMs and gemstones in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, said major strides had been towards enhancing security in the diamond sector since 2012.
“The upcoming review visit is an opportunity for the Zimbabwe diamond industry and all players, miners, community, government to showcase the commendable strides taken since 2012 towards Kimberley Process compliance.
“As we were going around as Kimberly process technical committee we noticed that there was a very significant improvement in security systems that are currently being used by diamond mines, the current example is the significant use of drones to monitor vast expanses of claims that are there,” said Mr Mukombachoto.
He said the pre-assessment exercise ahead of the scheduled KP review had necessitated engagements among diamond sector stakeholders to ensure the sector was compliant as the KP process dictates.
“The exercise has brought together the diamond players which will enhance industry self-regulation, we have arranged for an initiative where one producer can visit the other producer and see their level of compliance and encourage each other so that we are all compliant as a sector rather than individual companies.
“Continued cooperation between the three pillars of the KP leads to a more coherent diamond sector and will contribute to the achievement of a robust diamond sector,” he added.
Mr Mukombachoto said the KP required the sector to provide quarterly, half-yearly production and trade statistics, which are uploaded on the KP website for assessment.
“There have been annual reports submitted all the way from 2012, the requirement is that the visiting team can check on our compliance,” said Mr Mukombachoto.
KP statutes also require member states to be reviewed after every five years by other member states (peer review), to apprise progress in addressing issues on the checklist used as a guide.
Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), public relations and community development manager, Sugar Chagonda said ZCDC was alive to the need to ensure its operations were socially, culturally, economically, legally and environmentally sustainable.
“We are driven by a three horizons approach which entails mining responsibly to ensure the improvement of the quality of lives of people in the various tiers and the country at large as well as ensuring capacitation and funding of future programs of exploration and evaluation.
“We also have a life beyond diamond mining approach – which focuses on the need to leave a legacy of sustainability in all we do and systems we put in the business are designed to provide third party assurance in this regard,” said Mr Chagonda.
Anjin Investments Deputy General Manager, Dr Hesphina Rukato said the diamond mining was in the past accused of neglecting the plight of the host communities.
The company, she said , had since stepped up efforts to recognise the security and human rights of all the local communities around its field of production.
“Anjin has been accused of not engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and not being inclusive. As Anjin and ZCDC, we have moved to hold meetings with the community to discuss security and human rights issues,” said Dr Rukato.
Murowa Mine superintendent commercial and sorting, Mollyn Dengende ,emphasised the importance of security systems, saying diamond was a high-value commodity that must be handled with maximum care.
“Diamonds are relatively small yet an extremely high-value product and represent immediate worth and they should be controlled carefully hence security systems should be put in place to enable the diamond industry to curb and plug any leakage, ensuring that extracted value is only to intended beneficiaries.
“Security is undeniably and understandably a priority in the diamond industry,” she said The Kimberley Process is a commitment to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain and presently its participants are credited to have actively prevented 99,8 percent of the worldwide trade in illicit diamonds.
The KP enables nations, governments, and organisations to share their expertise and insights for positive and long-term impact on the trade in conflict diamonds and the lives of people in genuine need.
Zimbabwe is currently the vice-chair of the Kimberly process after being selected at the annual plenary meeting last year.-The Herald
