Browsing: diamonds

RioZim the beleaguered ZSE listed miner

Riozim Limited the Zimbabwe based, and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed diversified miner, has more going wrong for it than right.

For a mining company looking at news reports around it, analyst coverage and its financial reports one cannot help but wonder if all is well at one of the oldest ZSE-listed mining companies.

The company has been in the news for poor labour relations with its workers and for poor operational and financial performance and it looks like there is no end in sight for the troubled miner. Investors on the ZSE and in the diversified miner got some reprieve when Bloomberg broke the story that Riozim had bought a diamond miner in Namibia in a move meant to herald the company’s foray into the rest of the continent and increase its investment activities in Zimbabwe.

  • RioZim can be reasonably called a beleaguered or troubled company. It is not exactly
A diamond mine in Botswana. The country is making the big jump into a ‘digital diamond’ economy. www.theexchange.africa

Even though the country knows that diamonds are a finite resource, it still holds the world’s richest mine and is the biggest producer of gem diamonds. The country has become something of a role model for good development, powered by diamond mining.
20 percent of Botswana’s gross domestic product comes from this one commodity.
It propelled the country from the second poorest country in the world in 1966, at US$70 per person per year, to a middle-income country in 2021. Botswana estimates the diamond economy will start dropping in 2030. …

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To get their hands on Zimbabwe’s diamond, they conspire with the country’s top government officials and according to the leaked papers, the corruption runs deep, all the way to the very executive.

Makes you wonder, what is hurting the Zimbabwean people more, the US sanctions or the internal usurping of millions of dollars by corrupt government officials and their international partners in crime.

Zimbabwean diamonds go for as high as USD12 000 per carat. To get a picture of how much this racket is worth, consider report findings that have revealed that 350 000 carats of round diamonds worth an estimated USD140 million dollars have disappeared from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) repositories.…

afcfta africa

With these kinds of benefits, the AGOA has to be improved to align with the demands of the AfCFTA. In February 2020, the US and Kenya signed the first of a kind trade agreement between the United States and a Sub-Saharan African (SSA) country.

The FTA represents the most significant innovation in US-African trade relations since the enactment of AGOA and if successfully concluded, the FTA would undoubtedly signify an important shift in US trade policy in the region.

With the reality that competition for business in Africa is heating up, the FTA is a crucial issue which the Biden administration and Congress must grapple with especially now that the AfCFTA has been operationalised. On the other hand, Africa must be wary of any external forces that would disintegrate the AfCFTA in the guise of doing business with individual countries.…

Interview with Hon. Winston Chitando - The Exchange

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Zimbabwe has one of the most diverse mining sectors I have ever come across. The country’s soil is rich in elements such as platinum, coal, iron ore, gold, diamonds and most recently the prospect of oil and gas.

Despite its complex economic challenges, mining, along with agriculture, has been a key pillar supporting the country’s GDP. The sector is responsible for around 60% of Zimbabwe’s export earnings and remains as one of the main sources for the much welcome foreign currency inflow.

FurtherAfrica spoke to the Hon. Winston Chitando, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Mining Development for an open conversation about Zimbabwe’s mining sector, its challenges, new prospects and raising opportunities. Min. Chitando has a remarkable record in his country’s mining industry spanning well over 3 decades. Previous to his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Mining Development, he has held several different positions in major companies such as …

900guineabissau dollar

further africaFor those investing and particularly interested in Africa, Guinea-Bissau is a country which, so far, has been “under the radar” for most of the investors.

Located in West Africa, bordering with Senegal and Guinea Conakry, Guinea-Bissau is a relatively small country, with 36.125 sq. Km. Around 25% of the total population (estimated in 2.072.000, by figures of April 2020) is based in the capital (Bissau).

The official language is Portuguese, with some other native languages been used (like Balanka, Fula and Mandinka). French is also spoken, due to the influence of the two neighboring countries. Most of the population is Muslim (45%), with 22,1% of Christians and the outstanding percentage spread by indigenous traditional popular religions. Guinea-Bissau is also characterized by a very high level of young population (the medium average age is only 18 years).

Politics in Guinea-Bissau

The political regime is a constitutional democracy, with …

US ban Zimbabwe’s diamond import, government protests

Zimbabwe expressed concern over the United States’ ban placed on its diamonds to prevent it from being imported over concerns of forced labour.

The US Customs and Border Protection banned targeted products from China, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This has risen suspicion of the blockade being an extension of Washington DC’s trade war with China.

The US said that they issued a Withhold Release Order of the artisanal rough-cut diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond field due to evidence of forced labour and the US law prohibits importation of goods made with forced labour.

The Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr. Nick Mangwana responded, “There is virtually nothing like this in our diamond industry. Zimbabwe is replete with a highly qualified labour force which is neither forced nor compelled at any point along the mining and processing value chain.”

He pointed out that Zimbabwe …