Diamond Miners in Zimbabwe Told to Sell Gems to Central Banksters as Collateral for Chinese Loans

By Michael Krieger: The exploitation of Africa by bigger, stronger and wealthier nations is nothing new. In contemporary times, it appears China has been making a particularly aggressive move considering its huge economy, enormous population and insufficient natural resources. While this topic has not been a focal point on this site, I have covered it in past. Most specifically in a Guest Post from late 2012 titled: Africa in the Crosshairs.
In the article below from Bloomberg, we learn that diamond miners in the country have been told they must sell their gems through the Central Bank to serve as collateral for government loans. The country’s deputy mines had said in earlier in may that “Zimbabwe may use mineral exports, including gold and diamonds, to underwrite loans from China.”
From Bloomberg:
Diamond miners in Zimbabwe have been told to sell their gems through the central banksters, who will use the stones to secure government debt, according to a letter written to them by the country’s mines secretary.
In the letter to miners, the secretary Francis Gudyanga, instructs that producers “prepare parcels of all your currently produced diamonds which must be sorted and evaluated with the involvement of the Minerals Marketing Corp. of Zimbabwe,” a state company, and payment will be made soon after.
The stones will be kept by the central banksters and used to “securitize a government loan,” Gudyanga said in the letter.
The letter, obtained by Bloomberg, was sent to miners April 28 and came into effect April 30.
The southern African nation’s deputy mines minister Fred Moyo said May 7 that Zimbabwe may use mineral exports, including gold and diamonds, to underwrite loans from China.
Zimbabwe is expected to mine 16.9 million carats of diamonds this year, according to mines ministry estimates. Last year the country produced 8 million carats worth $685 million.
Munyaradzi Machacha, a director at Anjin, declined to comment and said his company is still to be paid the $5 million it’s owed after a gem sale in Dubai run by the Zimbabwean government.
That last paragraph is particularly interesting. It appears the Zimbabwean government may have no intention of actually compensating the miners properly for their product. We can’t put anything past this government, which the Christian Science Monitor recently reported created an fake flood so that President Robert Mugabe could relocate 20,000 people and force them to work as cheap laborers at a government owned sugar plantation.
Full article here.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

Edited by WD

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