KP Marange diamond choice praised by Zimbabwe Min.

IRJ – November 2 – Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister says that the nation “will no longer be begging for anything from anybody” following a Kimberley Process (KP) meeting in Congo, where international regulators agreed to the trading of a 4.5 million stones Marange diamonds stockpile worth US$2 billion.

“Our current diamond production is estimated by volume, to be in excess of 25  per cent of the world production, and going by the values realised to date per carat, Zimbabwe is set to earn in excess of $2 billion annually in gross revenues” Mines and Mine Development Minister Obert Mpofu told journalists, Wednesday, noting that the nation’s mining sector is braced to contribute to upwards of 50 per cent GDP.

“For a long time, our sovereign rights to trade our diamonds freely were unjustifiably denied because of the abuse of the consensus and decision-making mechanism of the Kimberley Process and the politicisation of the Kimberley Process by participants with hostile foreign policies on Zimbabwe.”

Human rights organisations have previously claimed that workers in the Marange area have been subject to beating and torture, and thousands of people have been removed from the region in order to make way for the setup of diamond mining operations, from which slaes have been made but no compensation delivered to those affected.

http://twitter.com/IRJmagazine