HARARE – Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has declared that London-based mining firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR), “controlled by one white man”, will never mine diamonds at Marange diamond field in eastern Zimbabwe as long as he is in charge of the ministry.

Mpofu was speaking to reporters at Parliament on Wednesday just before appearing before a parliamentary committee investigating operations in Marange, which is also known as Chiadzwa.

He reiterated that Zimbabwe was ready to sell the gems outside the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).

The parliamentary committee, which Mpofu and his top officials have tried to dodge, is also investigating the composition of the boards of two private firms – Mbada Investments and Canadile Miners – that were unprocedurally licensed to mine in Marange, according to evidence collected through several interviews conducted by the committee.

Reporters were barred from attending the hearing after Mpofu, who despite telling journalists before the start of the hearing that he had nothing to hide told committee chairman Edward Chindori Chininga (ZANU PF) that he wanted to give evidence in camera, forcing journalists to troop out of the committee room.

Mpofu said ACR chief executive officer Andrew Cranswick should be punished because he was the major obstacle in Zimbabwe’s bid to officially sell the diamonds.

“That man will never mine in this country as long as I am minister. Cranswick, only one man, has caused all the chaos. That one white man does not even employ, his company is listed in Britain yet he holds Zimbabwe to ransom,” said Mpofu.

ACR owns legal title to the Marange diamond claims but was controversially forced off the alluvial diamond-rich field by the government about four years ago.

“In fact, we received communication from Israel, the Kimberly chair saying they will not listen to Cranswick and they want us to move forward. He is responsible for all this mess, stopping us from using our resources to assist the country. We are under sanctions because of that one man,” Mpofu said, blaming the media for listening to Cranswick more than the government. “He has used the media effectively.”

Mbada and Canadile are two are joint venture companies between state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and some South African investors formed as part of measures to bring mining of diamonds at Chiadzwa in line with standards stipulated by world diamond industry watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP).

Mpofu said Canadile and Mbada could mine diamonds worth between US$1,2billion and US$1,4 billion annually if they were allowed to operate “smoothly”.

He said Zimbabwe would seek other markets if the KPCS refused to certify Marange stones.

“We have told them (KPCS) that we can pull out. We can sell our diamonds elsewhere. There is a bigger market out there,” he said.

Asked why Zimbabwe was still putting efforts to keep its KPCS membership if it could just walk away, Mpofu said: “We are a founding member of the KPCS. We are a member and we are producers as well. The UK and the US are not producers yet they want to control our industry. They make the most noise,” he said.

Most evidence heard so far in the parliamentary investigation points to Mpofu unprocedurally licensing Mbada and Canadile, as well as making irregular board appoints to the two firms. But he was defensive.

“I don’t regret any decisions I made. I have never touched alcohol in my life and I didn’t make those decisions under the influence of alcohol. Those were sober decisions.”

Chiadzwa is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields with reports that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government took over the field in October 2006 from ACR committed gross human rights abuses against illegal miners who had descended on the field.

Human rights groups have been pushing for a ban on Zimbabwean diamonds but last November, the country escaped a KP ban with the global body giving Harare a June 2010 deadline to make reforms to comply with its regulations.

However Mbada and Canadile brought in to ensure mining standards at Chiadzwa meet KP requirements have attracted more controversy amid revelations that some members of the two firms were once illegal drug and diamond dealers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.

Some Mbada and Canadile members are also known to have close links to Zimbabwe’s military establishment that is accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of diamonds from Chiadzwa and offloading them onto the foreign black market for precious stones.

By Zimonline