Harare: Zimbabwe is conducting its third local diamond auction where over 400 000 carats are expected to go under the hummer.

The first local auction was conducted last November in the capital following the seizure of Marange diamonds in Antwerp.

NewsDay reports that the auction which began on 11 May was expected to end next Monday and a number of foreign buyers were in the country.

The auction comes at a time the local diamond industry was facing viability challenges with production said to be plummeting. The miners in Marange attributed the decline in output to alluvial deposits that have dried up. They do not have the capital to buy machinery needed to go underground.

Harare now wants all the miners in Marange, which include Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Gye Nyame, Mbada Diamond, and Diamond Mining Company, to consolidate their operations.

Rio Tinto’s Murowa Diamonds and DTZ-OZGEO would also be forced to come under the new company, which would partner the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. The move, Harare claims, was meant to improve revenue inflows and curb leakages.