Harare: Zimbabwe’s mines ministry is said to have inked a new deal with the Diamond Mining Company paving way for the Lebanese-owned company to resume operations in Marange. Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa said DMC had agreed to cede 50 percent of its shares to Harare.

“We went into discussions and had an agreement to take over 50% of the company. We signed the agreement and the mining team is on site. In fact they have been mining for the past one-and-half weeks,” he was quoted as saying by a local daily, News Day.

Chidhakwa said DMC had not resisted government’s decision to cancel diamond companies’ licences unlike other miners who approached the court to set aside the directive.

The southern African country recently ordered mining companies in Marange to seize operations citing the expiry of their mining licenses and refusal to form part of the newly established Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).

The latest development was shocking as Harare had vowed to merge diamond operations in the country and Marange in particular.

Just last week the mines minister said that ZCDC was set to take over the Russian partly-owned DTZ-OZGEO’s diamond claims in Charleswood, Chimanimani.

He said the company would compensate DTZ-OZGEO for all the machinery and equipment after evaluation.