Conflict & Blood Diamonds: Zimbabwe

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History of Zimbabwe's Diamond Mines

The Republic of Zimbabwe is a relatively new participant in the exploitation of diamonds within regions of internal strife and conflict. Zimbabwe was formerly known as the nation of Rhodesia when it was under British colonial rule, named after De Beers co-founder Cecil Rhodes in 1888.

Zimbabwe has been plunged into economic chaos and hyper-inflation under the poor leadership of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born 21 February 1924). Mugabe's authoritarian Zanu-PF government (Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front) has ruled the nation since 1980, when Mugabe became Prime Minister after the fall of colonial rule in 1979. Prior to this, Mugabe rose as a leader and guerilla fighter in the Zimbabwe African National Union which opposed colonial rule.

During the last decade, the Mugabe government has unleashed and encouraged a wave of mob violence against the farming communities of the country's agricultural regions, focusing their rage on white-owned farms. The pillaging has led to mass food shortages, starvation and a plummeting currency. The violence is still continuing as of 2009, in the farming region of Chiredzi.

Chiadzwa Diamond Fields (Marange Diamond Fields)

Zimbabwe's recently discovered Chiadzwa Diamond Fields (aka Marange Diamond Fields) are located in the Marange region (aka Mutare West), some 90km southwest of the colonial city of Mutare, on the eastern border with Mozambique. Mutare is the third largest city in Zimbabwe, and a major diamond trading center for the country. It is also the capital of the Eastern Highlands region.

Map of Artisanal Mining in Chiadzwa Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (public domain)

Chiadzwa, pronounced chee-adz-wa, is a 16,000 hectare reserve situated along the Birchenough-Mutare highway (Hwy A9) in the province of Manicaland (Manyikaland). The region is inhabited by the indigenous Manyika (Shona) tribsmen.

The De Beers company, and their subsidiary Kimberlitic Searches Ltd., had held an Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) over the Marange diamond region dating back to the 1980s, and expiring in 2006. Exploration rights were then taken up by British-registered African Consolidated Resources (ACR), but in December 2006 the Zimbabwe government took over all mining rights via the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation [3]. ACR's mining rights were upheld in a Mutare court, but police have not permitted the company to resume operations.

Chiadzwa Diamond Rush

The confusion created by Zanu-PF's seizure of the diamond fields started a diamond rush to Marange/Chiadzwa, and soon there were thousands of artisanal miners panning for diamonds in Zimbabwe's new "El Dorado" of Manicaland Province.

Initially, freelance artisanal mining was encouraged by the Mugabe government, but the Ministry of Mines ordered the diggers to sell their diamonds only to the government, at below market prices. Most of the early surface diamonds recovered at Chiadzwa were industrial-grade stones that were brownish in color, but some higher quality stones have also been located. The diamond rush also sparked "diamond tourism" which was centered around the resort town of Hot Springs, which is close to the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

In 2007, another diamond source was discovered in the Chimanimani Eastern Highlands, along the Haroni River. This lush, mountainous region was once known as the "Switzerland of Africa," and is still populated by a handful of remaining white farmers of European decent, who have refused to be driven off their land by Mugabe's thugs.

In 2008, Mugabe ordered a crackdown on freelance mining in Chiadzwa, sending troops into the region to remove the informal or illegal miners known as "makorokoza," but since that time the troops have begun looting the diamonds for themselves.

The Killing Fields of Marange & Chiadzwa

Since the crackdown on the diamond diggers began in 2008, the ZRP (Zimbabwe Republic Police) and Zanu-PF military units have taken to strafing diamond panners with machine-gun fire from air force helicopters, and dispersing miners with tear-gas and gunfire, according to several human-rights groups. There are also recent reports of mass graves beginning to appear in the Zimbabwean countryside [4]. According to several human rights organizations that comprise the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, slave-labor is also now being employed to exploit these resources.

Manicaland Highlands at Nyanga (public domain)

Statue of Cecil Rhodes in Bulawayo (c1925)

The Zanu-PF military also instituted "Operation No Return," searching for both foreign and domestic travelers through the Marange region and Mutare West. If found with diamonds and/or foreign currency, detainees were allegedly tortured, then forced to fill in holes on the diamond fields.

This type of activity on the part of the Mugabe government is exactly what the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was drafted to prevent, but once these stones work their way through the black market in Mutare, then on to Belgium, India, Isreal, Lebanon, Russia or South Africa, they become increasingly more difficult to identify. Zimbabwe government officials claim the country is losing out on $1.2 billion worth of revenue each month due to black-market smuggling [5].

According to Zimbabwe's Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Obert Mpofu, these atrocities never happened, but with mounting pressure from both the international community, and a Kimberley Process (KP) review team, Zimbabwe agreed to remove soldiers from the Marange diamond fields in July, 2009 [8]. Mpofu stated that the Zimbabwe Mining and Development Corp. (ZMDC) was now extracting up to 60,000 carats a week from Chiadzwa (source: Bloomberg).

Mugabe's press secretary, George Charamba, from the Ministry of Information, said recently that the government "has had to reassert its authority in this wild, wild East," and that the "untouchables" accused of looting Marange's diamonds were being made to "refill the deep gullies with bare hands" [4]. Charamba also stated that "I do not think diamond hunters will descend on Chiadzwa ever again."

Enviromental Degradation in Marange

Artisanal mining in Chiadzwa remains a primitive, non-mechanized enterprize, involving little more than hand-digging of river-bank mud, sand or gravel (alluvium), which is then sifted, or panned using hand-held sieves. The illegal mining is also taking an environmental toll, clogging the Haroni and Save River (Sabi River) with silt, harming fragile ecosystems, damaging farming irrigation systems and contaminating drinking water in the Middle Sabi and Chisumbanje farming areas. Adding to the problem, artisanal gold miners in the region use cyanide and mercury to separate panned gold from ore, flushing these toxins into the rivers.

Zimbabwe's gold and copper ore mining operations along the Odzi-Nyazura belt are now being exploited by a Chinese mining consortium, and it is believed that under Mugabe's new "Look-East" policy the Chinese are favoured to take over the Chiadzwa diamond fields [6].

Kimberlite Diamond Mining in Zimbabwe

Over the last decade, mechanized diamond mining in Zimbabwe has been taking place in two locations with hard-rock kimberlite deposits. The Murowa Diamond Mine is located around 40km from Zvishavane, in central Zimbabwe. The Murowa mine is built over three kimberlite pipes that were first developed in 1996.

The River Ranch Diamond Mine is located on the southern boarder with South Africa, near the town of Bietbridge, which is on the Limpopo River dividing the two countries. As of 2006, River Ranch has been embroiled in controversy over disputed ownership of the mine. There is also the possibility of future sanctions for violating KPCS rules on the conscription of resources by hostile governments, and the black-market smuggling of illicit diamonds.

Solomon Mujuru, the husband of Zimbabwe's Vice President, Joyce Mujuru, was accused of using his political connections to illegally seize the mine in 2007. A High Court in Bulawayo has since ruled that the mine was owned by Bubye Minerals, which had acquired a Special Grant authorizing it to mine at River Ranch after winning a public tender through a Deed of Compromise that had been drawn up by the liquidators, KPMG [9].