HARARE, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Anjin diamond mining company plans to ramp up production to 10 millon carats in 2023 and 12 million carats in 2025 after it resumed operations in February last year, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Wednesday.
He said the company had so far invested around 38 million U.S. dollars to resuscitate operations at its mine in Marange in the eastern part of the country.
The company resumed mining operations in February last year and produced 247,051.7 carats of rough diamonds in the four months up to May last year, Ncube said in a 2020 annual budget review statement released Wednesday.
Anjin is a diamond venture company between Chinese firm Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group and the Zimbabwean government.
It ceased operations in 2016 after the Zimbabwean government ordered all diamond mining companies in Marange to stop production over concerns of widespread looting in the sector.
The government-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company then took over operations, but was allowed to secure partnerships with foreign companies to exploit diamonds.
Ncube said Zimbabwe's diamond output surpassed projected target of 2.2 million carats last year to reach 2.7 million carats, largely due to the coming of a new player, Anjin.
National diamond output was 2.1 million carats in 2019, down from 3.3 million carats in 2018. Enditem
