Russian diamond miner Alrosa has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Zimbabwe national diamond miner Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to develop diamond deposits in the Southern African country.
The agreement was signed by Alrosa deputy CEO Vladimir Marchenko and ZCDC chairpersonn Killian Ukama in the presence of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov.
Alrosa will hold a 70% controlling stake for the development of greenfield projects, while ZCDC will own the balance.
The JV will be able to work not only with the licences already held by ZCDC. Should a new prospective area be discovered, ZCDC will contact the Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to request a licence for the new area.
"The creation of a JV is a major step in the cooperation with our partners in Zimbabwe. We are committed to productive work in the exploration of new promising areas and subsequent diamond mining.
"Our specialists have been working in Zimbabwe for more than three months now and the national authorities have been of great support to them. We have chosen various projects for the JV. Of the existing fields for development, we are preliminary considering the areas located in the Chimanimani region," Marchenko commented in a media release issued on Tuesday.