Reports of leakages in the vast Chiadzwa mining fields continue to surface as organised syndicates siphon the precious stones off and dispose of them beyond Zimbabwe’s borders – despite heavy state-security presence.
The head of research at the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association, Shamiso Mtisi, said fingerprint technology could put an end to the crisis. “In the event that smuggled diamonds are intercepted, this laser-based technology can determine where they come from and whether they are Kimberly certified,” he said.
“Every mine is modelled and the technology pick samples from certified mines – for example DMC (Diamond Mining Company), Mbada Diamonds, which is used to authenticate the origins of smuggled diamonds.”
The technology, which is 99,99% percent accurate, can detect treatments applied to diamonds that previously went un-noticed. It can now tell if a diamond was recently polished or boiled to alter its appearance.
The process can also trace the origin of diamonds by assessing traces of uranium in the gemstones. The soil of different diamond-producing areas has varying uranium content, enabling each gem to be traced to its point of origin.
Several countries, including Australia and neighbouring South Africa, are already using the technology.
Meanwhile, an assessment conducted by Zela on Mbada Diamond’s $1 billion m turnover indicated that the breakdown figures given by the Marange miner do not add up. Mbada stated that it had contributed $424 million (41 percent) towards Taxes, Dividends and Government Advances, $33,9 million (3 percent) towards Corporate Social Responsibility and $214 million (21 percent) to Capital Expenditure. $225 million (13 percent) went to Direct Production-related Expenditure while $138 million (22 percent) was for Operational Expenditure.
“We did an assessment of that statement and when we unpacked these figures, we realised that it’s not aggregated in a manner that one can easy understand,” said Mtisi. He further queried the value of infrastructure built by Mbada and other Marange miners, saying chances were high that the value of houses and schools built were inflated in order to apply for tax exemption.
The companies can claim tax exemption after building infrastructure as part of their corporate social responsibility programme, according to the Mines and Minerals Act.
Post published in: Business