Mozambique: Beira-Zimbabwe pipeline to be managed under new models - Notícias
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Mozambique’s government said on Wednesday that the country had commercial quality diamond deposits and is committed to creating legal sales mechanisms to prevent the use of the gems to finance illicit activities.
“There are guarantees [that the country has commercial diamonds], because we have some samples taken in Mavue, in Gaza province, which still need additional tests, but everything indicates that they are commercial diamonds,” Carlos José Elias, executive secretary of the Kimberley Process Management Unit, said.
The Kimberley Process Management Unit is responsible for the certification and control of precious stones.
More than 40 diamond prospecting operations are underway in the provinces of Gaza (South), Manica, Tete (Centre) and Niassa (North), which shows the confidence of investors in the potential of Mozambican diamonds, Carlos José Elias said.
To prevent the illegal sale of precious and semi-precious stones, the Mozambican government has set up warehouses in Maputo and Nampula and will encourage miners to license their activity and certify the stones.
“We have registered in Mozambique the output of many minerals [and metals]: basically we are talking about gold, precious and semi-precious stones,” said Carlos José Elias.
The country must stop the illegal flow of precious minerals, joining the international effort to combat the financing of wars and transnational crime, he added.
Mozambique is taking a step towards compliance with the so-called Kimberley Process, an international mechanism that defines the guidelines for the sale of precious stones in order to prevent the entry into the trade of so-called “blood diamonds” mined in war zones.
Interest in the Mozambican subsoil has arisen in several countries.
In October, on the sidelines of the Africa-Russia summit, the Russian diamond mining company Alrosa expressed interest in assessing Mozambique’s diamond potential for possible investment.
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