Zimbabwe Holds Diamond Auction for 316,000 Carats

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe’s state-owned Minerals Marketing Corp. opened a 316,000 carat diamond auction, which will close at the end of the week, an official said.

“This is the third auction we have conducted this year as there were some administrative issues which were taking place within the organization," MMCZ’s General Manager Tongai Muzenda said by phone on Wednesday. The last auction was held in July, he said.

The auction, which began on Sept. 9 and will close on Sept. 13, has attracted buying interest from Belgium, Dubai, India, Israel and South Africa, but Muzenda declined to name the companies bidding, citing confidentiality.

Zimbabwe expects to produce 4.1 million carats of diamonds this year, up from 2.8 carats in 2018. At the peak of production in 2012, the southern African country’s output was 12 million carats.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alastair Reed at areed12@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, Renee Bonorchis

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