adminHarare Bureau
Zimbabwe will next month hold a second local auction of diamonds as it steps up efforts to maximise earnings from its natural resources, Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary Prof Francis Gudyanga said yesterday. He said the auction would be conducted early in February. He could not give the exact date for the auction.
“I’m yet to confirm the actual date of the auction but we’re certainly going to have an auction of diamonds locally beginning of February,” Prof Gudyanga said.
The first local diamond auction was held last year in November and attracted a large number of buyers both locally and internationally.
At least 400 buyers and 133 companies attended Zimbabwe’s first local diamond auction where about 300,000 carats of diamonds went under the hammer.
The country also held its first Antwerp diamond auction in December 2013 where it realised about $10.7 million.
Zimbabwe has managed to hold four diamond auctions outside the country, three at the Belgium based Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and one in Dubai, earning over $110 million.
Johan Erikson, managing director of Botswana diamond marketing firm First Element, who organised the auctions, advised Zimbabwe, which has 12 diamond viewing rooms, to build more permanent tendering facilities in Harare.
The government revised the 2013 diamond output downwards from 12.5 million carats to 11 million carats, but expects the figure to rise to 12 million carats in 2014.
Online Reporter