[caption id="attachment_1135" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Diamonds Fields In Marange, Zimbabwe"]<a href="http://blog.biggstock.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Zimbabwe_Diamonds_Fields_In_Marange.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1135 " title="Zimbabwe_Diamonds_Fields_In_Marange" src="http://blog.biggstock.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Zimbabwe_Diamonds_Fields_In_Marange-150x150.jpg" alt="Diamonds Fields In Marange, Zimbabwe" width="150" height="150" /></a>[/caption]

 
Zimbabwe mines minister Obert Mpofu claimed that his country's cabinet, as well as Israel and the European Union (EU), approved diamond sales from the country. And government agency says it already sold $23m worth in 2010.

"It was clear from the meeting that the cabinet agrees with the immediate sale of our diamonds," he told the state-run Herald newspaper. Zimbabwe's estimated Marange stockpile totals more than 4 million carats worth about $1.7 billion. Mpofu said that he needs to come up with "a mechanism of proceeding with this [sale] process. The mechanism will be transparent and accountable."

The mines minister also claimed that his country had met the minimum Kimberley Process (KP) requirements for diamond exportation and thus would sell rough stones through the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, as prescribed by the country's mandate, with KP certificates.

Earlier this week, Zimbabwe denied that it was forcing young men and boys to work at the Marange diamond fields, a charge leveled in a U.S. State Department report on human trafficking. The U.S. found that Zimbabwe's security forces had coerced youths into forced labor at the fields. Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi, called the report false, however.

"It's all lies. We are not involved in diamond mining in Chiadzwa," he told the Zimbabwe Independent. "We only have a police post there, just like any diamond mine elsewhere. It's all lies; this is a figment of their own imagination."

The "Trafficking in Persons" 2010 report, published this month, concluded that Zimbabwe had not complied with minimum standards by eliminating the practice. The report said that the country's government must stop utilizing local populations for forced diamond mining.

The U.S. State Department was disappointed that a consensus was not reached on Zimbabwe during the recent KP meeting in Tel Aviv and looked to Zimbabwe to demonstrate progress in implementing the scheme's full compliance requirements. The U.S. State Department strongly opposed any attempts to export Marange diamonds before a consensus was reached.

Given the mines minister's statements, industry members were reminded by World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) president Avi Paz that they should not purchase diamonds originating from the Marange area until the KP approves these exports. Since export approval has not yet been granted to Zimbabwe, any WFDB member found buying Marange rough will be subject to disciplinary procedures.