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RAPAPORT... The Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) confirmed that it will host its first rough diamond tender for diamonds out of Zimbabwe at Almas Tower between March 23 and 30. Zimbabwe has held two tenders recently in Antwerp and had indicated that the country would also partner with other diamond trading centers to secure future sales.
As in the two recent Marange tenders, the Dubai sale will feature rough diamonds from Anjin, Jinan, DTZ, Diamond Mining Company, Marange Resources and Kusena. This rough tender will also mark the third diamond sale organized by the DDE so far this year. “It is no coincidence that Dubai has emerged as the leading global diamond platform. We have created an incredible infrastructure, services and products which directly assist the industry traders; our policies and regulations are strong; and we are ideally positioned to support the trade from the producing nations in Africa to the consuming nations in the East and West,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC).
The Zimbabwe tender will be facilitated by Global Diamond Tenders DMCC in cooperation with the DMCC, where viewings will take place on the premises of the DDC, Almas Tower, Level 2. Peter Meeus, the chairman of the DDC, said, “The DDE has been instrumental in ensuring that African diamond markets have a voice and a platform to trade their products. The DDE and Dubai is now an established distribution and diamond center for those diamonds.” The European Union now permits business trade with Zimbabwe's main diamond marketing arm, the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), which acts in partnership with all of the above listed firms. However, the U.S. maintains sanctions on Marange Resources, Mbada Diamonds, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and the ZMDC, along with numerous government officials, meaning that companies based in the U.S. are not permitted to conduct transactions with these parties, or anyone listed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
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