From Business Day Live

Zimbabwe’s first-ever diamond auction in Belgium got off to a slow start last week with the majority of the 279,723 carats being of low quality and not properly cleaned, a senior government official said.

The Antwerp auction comes three months after the European Union (EU) removed sanctions on the southern African country’s state mining company.

The Zimbabwean mines ministry’s permanent secretary, Francis Gudyanga, said diamonds from five companies operating in the eastern Marange area had been sold for $10.7 million, of which 15 percent went to the government as royalties.

“Overall, 89 percent of the goods offered consisted of low-quality industrial goods. In general, goods weren’t optimally cleaned, sorted and parcels were not ideally composed,” he said in a statement.

Read more at Business Day Live