Zimbabwean govt. confiscated British owned diamond mine, Marange

The Zimbabwean government has confiscated an industrial diamond mine owned by the British company African Consolidated Resources (ACR) in Marange, a village in the eastern part of the country. The site was formerly owned by Kimberlitic Searches, a subsidiary of De Beers whose license expired in March. In June, diamonds were found at the site, triggering a diamond rush as some 6,000 to 15,000 people descended on the village to dig diamonds by hand, triggering fears that unsanitary conditions could breed disease.

The government did not try to stop the illegal miners at first. Instead, Tinos Rusere, deputy mining minister, reportedly visited the site on September 25 and encouraged the diggers to sell what they found to the government-owned Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe. However, buyers from other African countries such as Botswana, Congo-Kinshasa, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia offered better prices.

Up to $300 million worth of diamonds vanished as the hand diggers moved some 1 million tons of earth in a 1.4 square mile area in one month. Now that the government has seized the property and evicted the illegal diggers, soldiers have taken over the mining, but ACR vowed to fight the confiscation in court.