JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – To ensure the survival of the diamond industry, the African leadership of, and footprint in, the Kimberly Process (KP) would have to be expanded, chairperson Welile Nhlapo said Thursday.

South Africa took over the chairpersonship of the KP from the US on January 1.

Nhlapo indicated that it was important that the world’s largest diamond-producing continent took a more aggressive stance in the fight against conflict diamonds, while KP member-countries would also have to fulfil their responsibilities by becoming more actively involved.

Equally important was that transformation would have to be at the heart of a solution to preventing illicit diamond trading, while mechanisms to ensure compliance would have to be strengthened in a way that satisfied the requirements of all stakeholders, including governments, industry and civil society.

Nhlapo said the KP would have to create more partnerships, and find synergies with State and civil society structures involved in conflict resolution and peace building to ensure the right issues were tackled.

“Constructive cooperation between the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), as well as between their peace and security councils must be nurtured.”

To further aid in curbing trade in conflict diamonds, he added, South Africa would have to leverage its bilateral relationship with China, its membership in the Brics (which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of countries, as well as its role as a mediator in African conflicts.

Meanwhile, Nhlapo also highlighted that there was opportunity to build beneficiation capacity in diamond-producing countries.

“There is a willingness, even among some of the big players in the industry, such as India, to train people to be able to not only beneficiate, polish and cut [diamonds], but to get into [the mining] industry itself,” he stated, adding that the KP would have to encourage governments to take responsibility for instilling the required skills and knowledge to progress local beneficiation and reduce unemployment, inequality and marginalisation.

Challenges in the ongoing move against illegal diamond trade included failed discussions in 2012 regarding broadening the term ‘conflict diamonds’, a situation chairing South Africa would have to deal with.

“There is an inconclusive debate about the need to change the current definition of conflict diamonds, which can impact on the mandate and character of the KP,” Nhlapo explained.

Some stakeholders argued that the term should include human rights abuse, revenue transparency, violent armed conflict and good governance.

He noted that the lack of coherence on the matter was mostly owing to the KP being a multistakeholder process, with 80 represented countries and many large industry players such as De Beers, BHP Billiton and Anglo American, as well as civil society.

Nhlapo said the potential of Africa’s diamond industry to serve as a springboard to expand and diversify the continent’s fragile economies added to the urgency of eradicating elicit diamond trade, with the KP having contributed in making significant improvements.

Diamond experts estimated that conflict diamonds currently represented a fraction of 1% of the international trade in diamonds, compared with the estimates of up to 15% in the 1990s. This has been the KP’s most remarkable contribution to conflict resolution.

“At the end of 2013, it is our wish to contribute to more clean diamonds throughout the value chain, the diamond industry not only surviving, but thriving, and sustaining the global passion for, and positive association with, diamonds,” Nhlapo stated.