by Richard W. Wise. G.G.
©2010
Diamond fields outside of Chidzwa Village, Marenge, Zimbabwe, 2008
Wiki-leaks has been very much in the news and despite dire predictions from the Obama administration that material being leaked would put the lives of American officials and their assets abroad in danger, much of what has so far been discussed reads more like a series of tabloid news reports.
Among the 251,287 cables just released of which about half are labeled Secret or Confidential and half are unclassified, we learn to everyone’s surprise, that American officials are not particularly impressed with Afghan president, Mohamed Kharzi. The cables also contain disparaging remarks about Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin running a “virtual Mafia state” and about Italian President Berlusconi‘s relationship with an 18 year old Moroccan dancer.
Of particular interest to those of us in the Gemstone/jewelry community are Wiki-leaks of a series of cables written from the Office of the former Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee in 2007-08 that relate to the situation in the Marenge diamond fields near Chidzwa Village in Zimbabwe.
Andrew Cranswick, CEO of African Consolidated Resources (ACR) is named as the source of much of the information. ACR a publicly traded British firm was the leaseholder until 2006 when ACR was ousted and the lease was taken over by the Zimbabwe government’s own Mineral Marketing Corporation (MMCZ). So it is safe to say that Cranswick has an axe to grind. “It was highly irresponsible for Wikileaks to publish names,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “This is extremely dangerous and puts peoples’ lives at risk.” Cranswick is reported to be going through bankruptcy proceedings in Australia.
Marenge Diamond Fields Said To Be Exceptionally Rich:
Cranswick describes the fields as exceptionally rich:
“Cranswick told us he was confidentially shown a report prepared for the De Beers Corporation by noted geologist John Ward. The report estimated that Chidzwa had a CPHT (carats per hundred tons) of over 1,000. By comparison, the Rio Tinto/Rio Zimbabwe-owned Murowa diamond mine near Zvishavane in Midlands province has a CPHT of 120.”
To put these number in perspective, Australia’s famous Argyle Mine was rated at 30.5 CHPT in 2005. De Beer’s South African claims average 85 CPHT. The highest CPHT previously noted was found in a small pipe adjacent to Slave Lake in Siberia that yielded 139 CPHT but the pipe was played out within two years.
Jawaneng Mine, Botswana
The three pipes at the Jwaneng Mine in Botswana, described by De Beers as “the richest mine in the world” have a CPHT of 141.
To properly evaluate Marenge’s potential it is also important to know the average value of the production per ton. For example although the Onea mine is rated at only 0.5 CHPT, the average per carat value is $880 versus $11.50 per carat from Argyle. According to Cranswick in the Wikileak-ed cables, a Russian group purchased $500,000 dollars worth of diamonds at $29.00 per carat. Cranswick describes the production as 60% industrial and 40% gem or facet-able material, other reports put the ratio closer to 70/30