First Zimbabwe Tender held in Antwerp
Antwerp, December, 2013 – First Element Ltd has announced the first tender of Zimbabwean diamonds in the Antwerp Diamond Tender Facility, scheduled to be held from Wednesday December 11 to Monday December 16, 2013.
The diamond tender, the first one held in Antwerp since the European Union lifted the sanctions against the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), is the result of high level meetings of Zimbabwean officials and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe and Antwerp in the past month.
The diamond tender includes goods from Marange Resources, Diamond Mining Company (DMC), Anjin Investments, Jinan and Kusena Diamonds, totalling about 300,000 carats.
Following the lifting of the EU sanctions against ZMDC in September of this year, Marange diamonds can now be traded in Antwerp.
This opening of the market should have a highly significant and positive impact on the necessary market transparency, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre said.
In addition, Antwerp is convinced that the combination of solid transparency, accountability and potentially increased mining revenues will contribute to a sustainable social and economic development of Zimbabwe.
A new influx of rough diamonds could also significantly reinforce Antwerp’s position as the leading hub for rough diamond trade, where today already 84% of all rough diamonds are being traded.
