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A diamond company mining in Zimbabwe has asked the country's high court to appoint a liquidator in order to oversee the firm's dissolution, the Zimbabwean journal Newsday reported.

 

The company Limpopo Mineral Resources, formerly known as River Ranch Limited, said in its application to the court that it was unable to continue to function financially.

 

An investment company representing Limpopo Resources, which owns an 80% stake in the River Ranch diamond mine, said that while negotiating with the firm's junior stakeholder and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), it was simultaneously subsidizing the company's operations, which were running at a loss.

 

The investment company said that Limpopo had made efforts to recapitalize the mine in recent months, but that these had fallen short. In lieu of a serious offer from ZMDC to purchase the firm, Limpopo shareholders opted to apply for liquidation.

 

Government statistics reveal that the company sold $1.9 million worth of diamonds between January and March 2012.