Mining firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) has filed an appeal with the Kimberly Process Secretariat against Zimbabwe's government’s continued exploitation of the disputed Marange Diamonds fields, the New Zimbabwe reported.
A letter signed by the ACR CEO Andrew Cranswick said the company does not want Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Kimberley Process, but wanted the authorities to be guided towards “transparent and legal extraction and sale of its national assets.”
“This company has repeatedly, over the past several years, attempted to enter into a Joint Venture with the Zimbabwe Government on more favorable terms than those recently granted to two shady South African operators who took occupation (of the fields in) July 2009 and continue to mine illegally. We continue to be ignored by the Ministry of Mines,” the ACR letter said.
The letter further added that: “as you may be aware, the High Court ruled in September 2009 that ACR mineral rights are and have always been valid over the Marange diamonds field, and that all diamonds ever mined there belong to ACR. More specifically, the Court Order was stipulated to take effect regardless of any appeals. The Court ruling was ignored by MMCZ, ZMDC, the Ministry and the illegally operating companies.”
African Consolidated Resources is at the centre of the disputed ownership of the lucrative Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe.
The company is fighting its case in the country’s courts although the government has since licensed two other companies to operate in the area in joint ventures with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
