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Ishemunyoro Chingwere,Business Reporter
STATE-owned diamond mining firm, Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), has registered an 80 percent rise in its first quarter production compared to the same period last year.
According to figures availed to this publication by Chief Executive Officer Dr Moris Mpofu – ZCDC managed 751 303 carats in the quarter to March 2018 compared to 422 518 carats mined in the same period last year.
The first quarter haul is 25 percent above the 600 000 carats target that the mining entity had set for itself for the period and puts them in a strong position to achieve the 2018 annual target of 3 million carats.
This also takes the company’s diamond stockpile to 2,4 million carats, as at March 31, which will be released to the market at the “appropriate time”.
At 78 percent of what the miner managed the whole year in its first year of operation in 2016, the current figures show the continued rise that the firm has been registering as it also managed 1, 8 million carats in 2017. As previously announced, production has largely shifted from the depleting alluvial deposits to the complex to extract conglomerate deposits and the smooth transition has been attributed to continued investment.
To ensure continued boom, the mine will commission a 450 tonne per hour conglomerate crushing plant as well as receive new mining and exploratory equipment from Belarus as part of its Government backed $80 million recapitalisation programme in the current second quarter.
“In the second quarter of 2018, the company will be commissioning a 450-tonne per hour conglomerate crushing plant and new equipment which includes, 52 pieces of earth moving vehicles (EMVs) from Belarus and other mining and exploration equipment partly funded from Government’s $80 million injection,” said Dr Mpofu.
“This includes, excavators, drill rigs mobile crushers, security equipment and power generation equipment and infrastructure. The company’s combined processing capacity will be in excess of 750 tonne per hour after the commissioning.
derick.khumalo