Harare: The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has sold 270,000 carats of diamonds since February, when the government created the entity having merged several diamond companies, according to The Africa Report.

Zimbabwe’s mines and mining development minister Walter Chidhakwa said that the ZCDC’s performance had vindicated the government’s decision consolidate the mines into one organization.

He estimated that monthly diamond sales could reach as high as $70 million to $80 million, which if the country returned to its former output of 12 million to 15 million carats, would add $700 million to $800 million to the treasury’s coffers. According to the report, the government has set an ambitious target of mining 1 million carats per month.

Chidhakwa said recently that instead of waiting six months or up to a year to declare dividends to the government, the ZCDC would transfer funds each month.

The formation of the ZCDC has been controversial, with government ministers, including president Robert Mugabe claiming that foreign mining companies had stripped Zimbabwe of as much as $15 billion in lost diamond revenues.