``For us, Zimbabwe is a promising market for roughs and we want to bring all the stocks to Surat," the company spokesperson said. The 40 million carats diamond production per year from the Marange field will earn about $ 2 billion in revenue.ĭiamond barons from Surat insist that they directly source rough diamonds in huge quantites from Zimbabwe. ``And if we don't bring them here, they could well land up in China or elsewhere, and as a consequence, our polishing and cutting value gets eroded,'' he said.Īccording to Zimbabwean government, the country was propelled to the number one spot as the world's most important player in rough diamond mining. Rajiv Jain, chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, was of the opinion that if Zimbabwe would want to export its diamonds to India, it would be an added bonus to Indian diamentaires, given the large quantity of stones available. There is no way there could be any discouragement from the Indian side, they insist. And there was none from India.ĭiamond traders in Mumbai maintain that Zimbabwe diamonds have a huge market in the northern belt of the country such as Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and other centres like China, Hong Kong and UAE.
There was little international condemnation, especially compared to the controversy over the first sale of Marange diamonds in August. On September 11, 2010, Zimbabwe auctioned diamonds from the controversial Marange mines. They are also a source of blood diamonds. The Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe are regarded as the world's biggest diamond find in more than a century. Traders insist they are well equipped for the task as more than 90% of the world's diamonds are said to be cut and polished in Surat. The deal will see the Gujrat-based diamond industry providing training facilities to create 1,000 skilled diamond polishing artisans in Zimbabwe. The consortium of diamond barons from Surat in Gujrat, India, have agreed to provide a steady demand for polished stones to Zimbabwe's concerned authorities. This is significant given that an Indian firm, Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Ltd (SRDSIL) and representatives of Zimbabwe Diamond Consortium (ZDC) recently signed a $1.2 billion deal in Harare.
Diamond industry players and human rights activists who were present at the meet said the Indian contingent, also present, let their economic considerations outweigh ethical ones. At a Kimberly Process meeting in Jerusalem, India advocated the lifting of a suspension on the export of rough diamonds from the Marange diamond field. According to Indian diamond merchants are eager to extend a warm welcome to Zimbabwe's vast stores of rough stones.