Diamond producers heed President’s call
THE Association of African Diamond Producers (ADPA) has vowed to rally its members to scale up investments in local processing of the gems to enhance export earnings and contribute to the continent’s development.
Estimates indicate that Africa produces 60 percent of global diamonds but a majority of them are exported in raw form due to lack of processing plants within the region.
President Mnangagwa, who was the guest of honour and officially opened the ADPA Committee of Experts and Council of Ministers extraordinary meeting in Victoria Falls on Thursday, challenged all diamond producing countries to consolidate their footprint in the global diamond industry by increasing beneficiation and value chain development. He stressed that adoption of such a stance would help Africa to become a major producer of diamond jewelry and other accessories while increasing efforts towards establishing Africa as a hub of the diamond cutting and polishing industry.
Speaking after the meeting, Tanzania Deputy Minister of Minerals, Mr Steven Kuruswa, whose country chairs the ADPA, said the association has extended an invitation to nonmembers to join the bloc and fight together.
ADPA has 19 members, 15 active and four observers and there are other producing countries like Botswana that are not members.
“It would strengthen us if all of us came together as a block as African countries and having a big voice in research, in exploration, mining adding value and overseeing the marketing of diamond resources that are coming out of Africa,” said Mr Kuruswa.
“So, going as individual countries you lose a voice and the voice is what we need. The more we are, the louder the voice would go.
We want to be in that position as ADPA to decide how much the diamond can be sold in the market.” Deputy Minister Kuruswa said this was one of the resolutions of the conference and that lessons can be leant from Tanzania, which had come up with a policy that no mineral is to be sold out of the country in its raw form.
“We would rather move away from selling raw diamonds to selling polished or valued added beneficiated diamonds,” he said.
“Once you value add, you create local employment and get the final fine product that gains more. The aim is to make all diamond producing countries to join and many have been invited.
“So, in Tanzania we are very much gearing towards meeting refineries for gold, other gemstones like tanzanite, rubies, and one of the requirements for an investor that comes from outside is that they must agree to develop refineries and processors of minerals in the country,” said Deputy Minister Kuruswa.
He said where processing is difficult, efforts should be made for partial processing of a certain percentage of the diamond before exportation.
Dep Minister Kuruswa said the diamond market is vast globally in Europe, America and Asia and what is needed for African producers is to streamline the type of product they sell.
Zimbabwe is vice chair of ADPA deputising Tanzania and will assume chairmanship in April next year. The country is also vice chair of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, a post it assumed in November last year and is set to become chair in November this year, taking over from the current chair, Botswana.
The regulatory framework of selling diamonds is through the Kimberly Process and ADPA is there as an African bloc to further interests of African diamond producers.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said Zimbabwe had made tremendous progress in transforming the diamond sector.
“When Zimbabwe became certified to sell its diamonds through the Kimberly Process, it really enabled the diamond industry to grow in a sustainable manner and right now there is phenomenal growth, which is taking place,” he said.
“In terms of our US$12 billion target diamonds are meant to produce more than US$1 billion at the end of next year and we are well on course to achieve that mostly through expansion of production.” — The Chronicle
