Zimbabwe capital to get diamond polishing factory

The state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) stated in a printed prospect distributed at last week's Mining Indaba that it plans to establish a factory which will cut 3,000 carats of rough diamonds every month. A diamond cutting and polishing factory will soon be established in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. According to the literature, the factory would ramp up its production capacity to 4,500 carats per month after a year of operation.

The ZMDC noted that the cost to build the factory would be just over $6 million, and that $12.5 million would be required to procure the rough diamonds to be cut there. Zimbabwe's previous Mines Minister ObertMpofu announced that the government would advance legislation which would see diamond companies operating in the country pay taxes on a sliding scale. According to the scheme, the more beneficiation activities performed on the stones inside Zimbabwe, the lower a percentage the firm would have to pay in taxes to the state.