(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) US$100m for new gold project
Sunday, 22 December 2013 00:00
Business Editor
African Consolidated Resources (ACR), which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has signed term sheets with one of Nigeria’s biggest banks as it inches closer to its US$100 million gold project in Chegutu, the Pickstone Peerless Project.
Experts define term sheets as documents outlining the terms and agreement of a business agreement. They often precede a proposed final agreement.
Having recently completed a feasibility study, which indicated initial mineral reserves of more than one million ounces, the resource company is now actively pursuing funding and equity partners for the project.
In its financial report for the six months ending September 30, 2013, released last week, ACR confirmed that it has signed term sheets with a major African financier, but did not disclose the name of the entity.
However, people familiar with the transaction told The Sunday Mail Business that First Bank of Nigeria – Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets at US$21 billion as at June 30 this year – had been roped in.
However, the bank will only finance operations after a due diligence exercise has been conducted.
It is believed that, if successful, First Bank will inject between US$20 million and US$70 million.
Production can only start 11 to 14 months after initial funds have been injected.
But for the Nigerian bank to chip in “initial development equity capital in order to get oxides into production” has to be undertaken with equity capital.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the Chegutu mine has the potential to eclipse the Mzi Khumalo-controlled Metallon Gold, which is currently Zimbabwe’s largest gold producer, with an estimated annual production of 85 000 ounces.
“Pickstone Peerless represents the largest ever open pit gold mine to be mined in the country’s history. This asset is of national importance and will go a long way to re-establishing Zimbabwe’s gold mining industry.
“We believe that the Government recognises this and the potential of this project to make a significant impact on the reconstruction and development of Zimbabwe’s rebirth,” ACR said in a statement accompanying its interim financials.
Although ACR estimated at the beginning of the year that initial project costs were around US$10 million for the design and commissioning of a plant for a 200 000-ounce starter pit, it has since reviewed the figure to US$27,3 million on increased costs of stockpiling.
Added ACR: “This level of funding should be sufficient to achieve production on the oxides on the basis of processing 20,000 tonnes per month.
“Thereafter, further CAPEX (capital expenditure) will be required to expand production to 50 000 tonnes per month and to deal with sulphide ore, but it is believed that whatever is necessary can all be funded by a loan facility.
“We are very pleased that, as announced, a major African bank has agreed such a facility, with an indicative Term Sheet having been agreed subject to customary due diligence, credit committee approval and also to AFCR securing equity for the initial plant construction.
“The construction timeline has been reviewed in the light of and subject to capital funding, notwithstanding emerging and encouraging developments in Zimbabwe. Notably, production of first gold is estimated to take place within 11 to 14 months of project finance being secured.”
Bullish news on the new project takes place at a time when gold prices have been declining on the world market.
Last week, prices of the yellow metal dropped below US$1 200 an ounce as the United States Federal Reserve decided to trim its economic stimulus that was pumping wads of cash into the global economy.
Prices have dropped as much as 38 percent since reaching a record $1 921.15 an ounce in September 2011.
In the period when the United States began the programme of quantitative easing, which entails buying securities in order to increase liquidity in the market, between December 2008 to June 2011, gold prices have risen by 70 percent.
However, international investment analysts Goldman Sachs Group project that the price might drop to US$1 050 by the end of 2014.
“But ACR believes that its project is “very robust to any further lowering of the gold price”.
It further notes that even at a gold price of US$1 100 and a royalty rate pegged at seven percent the project will be viable.
While the company is optimistic about the Chegutu venture, it is currently bearing the brunt of increase licence fees for its claims at Chakari and Gadzema.
Claim holding costs in Zimbabwe have recently been increased by over 5 000 percent to try and weed out speculative behaviour from the mining sector.
The company has however decided to keep the claims.
Most importantly, ACR believes that the new Government will be able to provide a platform for future development.
“We are optimistic about the emerging political situation in Zimbabwe.
“The newly elected government is bedding down and appears to be taking real steps to adopt rational and more business-friendly policies. We look forward to continue to working with them,” added the company, further noting: “The company is in the course of preparing an indigenisation proposal which will be presented to the appropriate authorities and committee before disclosure can be made available.
“The company seeks to have this matter resolved as early as possible in the new year in support of the funding imperatives and mindful of the importance that is placed on this by the Government.”
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, GOLD
Read more...
COMMENT - Andrew Cranswick is still wanted in Australia for tax evasion.
ACR reports progress at gold projects
18/12/2011 00:00:00
by Business Reporter
AIM-LISTEDD resource and development company, African Consolidated Resources expects to start first-phase production at its Pickstone gold project, in Zimbabwe, in mid-2012.
The Zimbabwe-focused company said the project, although subject to funding, is successfully on route in its development to generate cash through its Pickstone sulphide tailings dump project.
Cash generation could fund subsequent investment in production phases at Pickstone, while affording the company a more aggressive drillout of other assets, said CEO Andrew Cranswick in a recent statement.
Throughout the project ramp-up and production, the company had remained committed to full compliance with Zimbabwe's indigenisation regulations.
African Consolidated was confident that it would raise funding and would announce its progress within the next quarter, he said.
Meanwhile, the miner reported that 10 700 m of drilling, to upgrade current Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource of one-million troy ounces, had been undertaken at its Gazema gold project.
These results were expected to be released in the first quarter of 2012.
Executive chairperson Roy Tucker said African Consolidated believed the total project resource was likely to be higher and the Gadzema gold project could develop into a major mine.
“However, the ongoing resource definition would run in parallel with research on the funding of such a large-scale operation, given the internationally perceived political risk to finance opportunities in Zimbabwe,” he added.
More than 35 000 m had been drilled in Gadzema and, while awaiting assays from the latest campaign, the company was planning the next resource drill out.
It is hoped that the bulk of the future funding would be sourced from the near-term production at Pickstone.
African Consolidated reported a loss of $1.7-million in the six months to September 30, 2011.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CORRUPTION
Read more...
COMMENT - This is huge news. Anglo-American De Beers is the world's diamond monopolist. Zimbabwe sits on 20% of the world's known diamond reserves. Now you know why Zimbabwe has been singled out and vilified for the last decade. There is only one protection, and that is that all natural resources permanently belong to the people, and are mined through the state only. And AADB should make a start by restoring everything they have stolen from the country of Zimbabwe, as well as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, etc.
‘De Beers an international looter’
Saturday, 08 October 2011 22:38
Sunday Mail Reporters
THE Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has reiterated its calls to take legal action against South African mining giant De Beers, describing the company as an international looter.This comes amid revelations by Government that
De Beers smuggled more than 1 000 tonnes of diamond concentrate out of the country in its 15 years of existence in Zimbabwe.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu made the startling revelations at the Mining Stakeholders’ Conference held in Mutare last Monday. Minister Mpofu also accused De Beers, which is a major sponsor of civil society groupings such as the Centre for Research and Development and the Zimbabwe Environment Lawyers’ Association (Zela), for campaigning against Zimbabwe’s right to sell its diamonds.
He said De Beers was not displaying transparency and good governance, the same values the company’s gullible civil society campaigners were accusing the Government of violating.
“De Beers is an international looter.
“They do not know what transparency is, what good governance is. They exported not hundreds of tonnes of diamonds but thousands of tonnes. We are going to take legal action and we are going to use Zela to deal with them,” said Minister Mpofu amid applause from stakeholders.
Minister Mpofu also questioned why Zimbabwe’s critics were not demanding to know where the diamonds that were illegally mined by the 50 000-plus people at the famous Chiadzwa went to.
“Where are the diamonds that were collected by the 50 000 people in Marange?
“This was a result of a purposeful agenda by De Beers,” contested Minister Mpofu.
He said De Beers must come clean on its activities in Zimbabwe.
“They were there for 15 years taking the diamonds everyday and we have the records to that effect and our civil society has never said anything about it.
“They did not say they had found diamonds in Zimbabwe but when Government started to ask questions they abandoned.
“Their withdrawal was so sudden and a few hours later they left African Consolidated Resources (ACR) to take over. ACR, a British-listed company without any mining operations but listed for not doing anything, save for making claims that they have mining rights in Marange.
“ACR realised that they would not get enough because Government was on their heels, they brought in 50 000 people into the diamond mining fields. All of you saw that.
“And all those diamonds are not accounted for. Is that transparency?” Minister Mpofu said, before adding that the gems were not in the hands of the Zimbabwean Government.
He added: “They are not with Government. In fact, when Government was running around with the help of the Minerals Unit, one of the ACR directors was nabbed in possession of 27kg of diamonds at one of his houses. These are facts that are being ignored.
“What happened to the diamonds that were being used by Savimbi to fight the (Angolan) government?
“Who was paid in those diamonds, where are those diamonds? Where are the diamonds that were actually fanning the war in Sierra Leone, in Cote d’Ivoire, in DRC, where are they?
“Transparency. You guys (civil society) should know where they are if you guys preach transparency as you claim. Where are those diamonds? They are not in Africa, nor are they in Zimbabwe.”
He added: “To the NGOs, we say we are not scared of any scrutiny as Government. Actually, that makes us work better.
“You keep on referring to Botswana as the best model, but are the people of Botswana getting full beneficiation from their diamonds?
“For your own information, the Tswana people have no idea of what transpires at the De Beers diamond mine.”
He defended the presence of security forces at the Chiadzwa diamond fields.
“Our security forces did a wonderful job because nowhere in the world could that magnitude of people be easily cleared in a diamond area.
“Our army and our police did a splendid job and they are being vilified for doing that.
“During the time of this (diamond) rush and looting, we were compliant as a country and allowed to sell our diamonds.
“Immediately, we brought in new investors, cleaned up the place, put a security fence, we were barred from selling our diamonds because the De Beers looters realised they were now out of business at Marange.”
Official documents show that the company exported more than 1 000 tonnes of diamonds under the pretext that it was still carrying out exploration.
It was granted 47 Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) in Chipinge, the first of which was gazetted in March 1996. Of these EPOs, 13 were in Chipinge District and the remainder in Chimanimani.
The first tenure of exploration was under EPO 1059 in Marange and 1062 in Mutowona, covering more than 61 000 hectares.
Four kimberlites were discovered under EPO 1059 and one kimberlite under EPO 1062.
However, the validity of the EPO lapsed in 2001 before De Beers completed its search.
A new application to renew the EPO was lodged with the Mining Affairs Board and was granted in March 2002. The company later discovered cemented diamonds, but did not report this discovery to the Ministry of Mines.
It subsequently abandoned operations. It emerged that in 1996, De Beers exported 32 tonnes of rock samples, 608 tonnes of drill core and 64 tonnes of soil samples. In 1997, it collected 16 tonnes of soil sample and 53 tonnes of rock samples.
Eighty-eight tonnes of crushed rock were collected and exported in 1998, while 228 tonnes of the same were exported in 1999.
In 2000, the company exported 38 tonnes of crushed rock. In 2003, 150kg of exploration samples were exported while rock samples amounting to 761kg and 100kg concentrate were exported in 2004.
In 2005, 262kg of concentrate (64kg of which were exported in trunks and 111 895kg in drums) as well as 1 318kg of rock samples. - The Sunday Mail
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, ANGLO-AMERICAN, CORRUPTION, NEOCOLONIALISM, OBERT MPOFU
Read more...
COMMENT - Here we go. I wonder whether the mine industry apologists are going to turn up and complain about Anglo-American De Beers and it's violation of the 'Rule Of Law'. Or perhaps they think the rule of law only applies to Africans? De Beers should lose it's license to operate in Zimbabwe, let alone other African countries. It is obscene that trillionaires are gleaning every cent of profit they can from Africa, while the people starve and live on $1,- per day. Also, if they can't be trusted to declare their revenues, they can't be trusted to declare their taxable income. I say nationalize their assets.
Probe into De Beers operations in Chiadzwa
07/07/2011 00:00:00
by Sapa
THE Zimbabwean government is investigating the operations of diamond company De Beers in Chiadzwa some years back amid fears
the company could have looted gems worth hundreds of millions of dollars. De Beers spent
eight years exploring diamonds at the fields, but later
claimed that it failed to get anything meaningful.These are the same fields that Mbada, Marange Resources and Anjin Investment are operating on viably today and extracting millions of carats, the report said.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Gift Chimanikire on Wednesday confirmed a probe was already underway.
“We have requested a full report on De Beers and their operations from our officers,” Chimanikire said.
The allegations against De Beers were first made by President Robert Mugabe in March last year.
His spokesman George Charamba said at the time: "For 15 years, the Zimbabwe government believed De Beers was only prospecting and carrying out tests when the company was actually mining.
"When the government finally realised this and tried to arrest them, that's when they hurriedly pulled out and claimed the diamonds were not of commercial value."
At the time, Charamba had indicated the government could not "take the issue further" because it could not establish "how much of the diamonds have been taken".
"The most important thing now is that we now have our mines back."
De Beers' director of international relations has denied any wrong doing by the mining giant.
"We were in the Marange fields from 1993 to 2006," Andrew Bone said from London. "We only did core sampling. The deposits we found there did not fit into our portfolio. There were also disputes regarding the allocation of a second concession to another mining company, ACR. That's why we pulled out.
"The bottom line is that there are ridiculous allegations and there is no evidence of De Beers mining diamonds in that area."
But on that last point, Charamba shot back: "It is not a secret that alluvial diamonds are mined at the surface. It is not like a kimberlite. Why should it take 15 years for such an experienced company to conclude that our diamonds are of no value to them?"
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, ANGLO-AMERICAN, CHIADZWA, GEORGE CHARAMBA, ROBERT MUGABE
Read more...
Ex-diamond firm’s director Kurotwi on the run
By Peter Matambanadzo
Sunday, 09 January 2011 20:33
POLICE have launched a manhunt for former Canadile Mi-ners (Pvt) Ltd executive director Lovemore Kurotwi who is facing fraud allegations after he demanded back US$300 000 in legal fees paid to Mutamangira and Associates law firm.
Canadile Miners had — together with other companies Marange Resources, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe — paid the law firm fees for legal services rendered to them.
The companies were involved in a legal dispute with Afri-ca Consolidated Resource for over a year. ACR was trying to boot the companies out of the Chiadzwa diamond fields.
The manhunt for Kurotwi came after ZMDC chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa and former chairman of Cana-dile Miners (Pvt) Ltd Mr Cougan Matanhire filed a criminal complaint against him on Saturday at Harare Central Police Station under IR number 010560.
Deputy police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka confirmed that a report was received at Harare Central Police Station.
“We confirm that we received a report although I don’t have any further details,” Chief Supt Mandipaka said. Sources say police visited Kurotwi’s house and he was not located.
“We confirm that his house was raided last night (Saturday) and he was not there.
“His lawyers’ offices were also visited in search of him but we could not locate him,” said the source who dec-lined.
However, his lawyer Mr George Chikumbirike said his client was not on the run.
“He (Kurotwi) phoned me this morning (yesterday) and informed me that police were looking for him. He is not on the run. He is out of town and I also tried to communicate with the police but failed because I’m at the farm where there is no network,” Mr Chikumbirike said.
He said as soon as his client was back in town, he would accompany him to the police.
Mr Masimirembwa also confirmed that they had jointly filed a criminal complaint against Kurotwi.
“I can confirm to you that we jointly filed a criminal complaint of attempted fraud against Kurotwi following his demands through his lawyers Chikumbirike and Associates.
“The police have been looking for him and we understand he is on the run,” Mr Masimirembwa said.
Kurotwi’s lawyers Chikumbirike and Associates wrote a letter to Mr Masimirembwa on Saturday in which the latter was demanding US$300 000 purportedly on behalf of Core Mining and Minerals (Pvt) Ltd and to Canadile Miners (Pvt) Ltd.
In the letter, Mr Chikumbirike claimed that Canadile Miners never authorised payment of the legal fees to Mutamangira and Associates law firm that acted for ZMDC, Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, Canadile Miners and Mbada Diamonds.
He further stated that the mining company, which is now allegedly defunct, had no legal obligation to pay the legal fees.
Canadile Miners had its mining licence cancelled after it emerged that it had misrepresented to Government that it had capacity to do mining in Chiadzwa.
But Mr Masimirembwa said work done by Mutamangira and Associates benefited ZMDC, MMCZ, Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners.
He said Mutamangira and Associates were the leading negotiators in the resolution of the Kimberly Process issues both in Zimbabwe and abroad.
“For without the able representation of Messrs Mutamangira and Associates for a period of not less than 12 months we would not have been able to secure the Kimberly Process certification and sell our diamonds as we have done and continue to do,” he said.
Mr Masimirembwa said there was nothing sinister in the payment of fees to a lawyer as other service providers who conducted a forensic audit of the Marange Diamond Reconciliation were paid US$600 000.
He added that if anyone had to be arrested it should be Kurotwi because he wanted to pocket US$300 000.
“If Government pays US$300 000 where will he put the money? Canadile Miners no longer exist and Core Mining is as good as defunct with the majority of directors on the run,” Mr Masimirembwa said.
Mr Matanhire also confirmed reporting Kurotwi to police adding that payment of US$300 000 to Mutamangira and Associates, a firm that was acting on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office, was above board.
“The legal fees I understand related to a myriad of legal challenges instituted by ACR and the Kimberly Process engagement since Marange Resources were under the KP ban,” Mr Matanhire said.
He said Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu indicated that Marange, MMCZ and ZMDC foot the lawyers’ bill since it was a joint venture, which was operating through Canadile Miners and Mbada Diamonds.
He said during one of the meetings it was resolved that the three entities bear the costs in one-third portion each.
Further, Mr Matanhire said a meeting was held where Kurotwi and another executive, Yehuda Lictchi, approved the payment of the legal fees at the Canadile Miners Mount Hampden offices.
“Further to my telephonic discussions regarding the payment of the outstanding legal fees of US$300 000 payable to Mutamangira and Associates, please effect the payment from the Canadile Miners working capital retention. As you are aware they acted on instruction from the AG’s office, and hence we are liable for our portion.
Every other party has already paid. I have advised the lawyer to get in touch with you regarding the payment. If you could effect it immediately because it has been outstanding for some time now,” read an email sent to Kurotwi.
Mr Matanhire said the payment was then made on September 16, 2010 with the full knowledge and approval of Kurotwi.
“In the circumstances, Kurotwi and his attorneys are committing a fraud by making an unlawful demand for the payment of US$300 000 to themselves,” Mr Matanhire said.
He also said apart from it being fraudulent, the claim was malicious, given the fall out between Core Mining Minerals and Government.
Kurotwi is on bail facing charges that arose after he and five others allegedly misrepresented to Government that they had capacity to mine diamonds at Chiadzwa fields.
It is alleged that as a result of this misrepresentation Government was prejudiced more than US$10 million.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CANADILE MINERS, LOVEMORE KUROTWI
Read more...
WikiLeaks might choke The Standard
by Shakeman Mugari & Darlington Majonga
22/12/2010 00:00:00
AFTER enduring the embarrassment that came with revelations in the Sunday Times that she was having an extramarital affair with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, Grace Mugabe must have been itching to make the media pay.
For reasons we will postulate later in this article, neither Grace nor Gono decided to sue for that infidelity story despite that it had glaring weaknesses on which they could have capitalised.
The story had made allegations that both Gono and Grace could have successfully claimed to have injured their reputation and integrity. Then The Standard newspaper, a fortnight ago, unwittingly granted Grace her wish to punish the media.
The paper regurgitated classified diplomatic cables – which are in essence US government e-mails – leaked to the whistleblower website Wikileaks alleging that Grace and other senior people in the Zimbabwe government had made super profits from smuggling diamonds.
Litigious Grace
She is a thief of diamonds, the paper said in a story that relied solely on the diplomatic cable filed by the former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee.
McGee himself had relied on information allegedly gathered from Andrew Cranswick, the chief executive of African Consolidated Resources, a company that has been fighting for diamond mining rights in Zimbabwe for years.
Predictably, Grace pounced on the opportunity and filed a US$15 million lawsuit against the paper.
Since then, public opinion has portrayed The Standard as a victim of a litigious first lady desperate to keep her alleged illegal dealings under wraps.
Some have labelled the lawsuit an effort to muzzle the press. The debate continues.
Yet in all this brouhaha what has been missed is that The Standard might have “blindly” walked into a trap that Wikileaks unintentionally set for journalists when it released those US government cables.
The paper walked into a minefield and many newspapers might soon find themselves in the same precarious situation if they blindly lift those Wikileaks for publication.
It has always been dangerous for journalists to walk around with their pens “cocked” and eyes closed.
Whether one likes her or not, the sad reality in this case is that Grace could have a very strong argument and The Standard could be sued into poverty.
As journalists and Zimbabweans who have worked under the hostile media conditions in Zimbabwe, we are not celebrating that eventuality.
It must be mentioned from the onset that the real reason Grace could have a strong case is not because she is clean but rather that The Standard could have bungled the story. The result might turn out to be calamitous.
The Standard forgot that those leaked cables are not a statement of fact but an opinion of their writer, McGee.
Strong case
They were written to help the US government formulate its policy strategy in foreign affairs dealings with Zimbabwe.
They were an update to the US government on the Zimbabwean situation according to McGee. They were an assessment of a situation and not the situation itself. McGee did not put those damaging allegations to an ample test that is required for journalists before they publish stories. In any case, McGee had no obligation to do that because he was not writing them for publication.
He relied on one source who has since denied having mentioned Grace or any other name when he gave the information.
The Standard made the mistake of rushing to publish that information without verification.
They forgot that the cables were mere allegations that they, as a newspaper, had to seek to verify before going to print.
The paper mistook what was otherwise a plausible “tip-off” for a complete story ready for publication.
When the case goes to court the obligation will be on the newspaper to prove that those allegations are true and that they took pains to verify them.
In other words, The Standard now has to start doing what it should have done before publishing the story – which is verifying the cabled information.
To do that they will have to do the story in reverse – they wrote the story now they have to find evidence to corroborate it.
Mission impossible
But that might be a mission impossible. Rumours have always been abound that people close to President Robert Mugabe were involved in clandestine diamond dealings but what has stopped many Zimbabwean journalists from writing the story is the lack of evidence.
Now, The Standard has to find that elusive evidence to prove that rumour.
And because this is a court case the evidence will have to be more concrete than what a newspaper normally needs to write a story. The real drama however will be in the courts.
Because of the circumstances surrounding the cables and Wikileaks, The Standard will obviously have to scrounge around for witnesses. Only God knows where they will get anyone to corroborate those allegations.
They clearly can’t call McGee to testify that the allegations in the cables are true because the US government has already said the cables are stolen information and they want nothing to do with Wikileaks.
It’s therefore highly unlikely that a whole US diplomat will agree to give evidence on a confidential document he wrote for the State Department’s use only.
That takes one pillar off The Standard’s defence case which is already shaky even if we assume that, by some divine intervention, McGee will agree to testify.
It does not help The Standard’s case that Cranswick, the man McGee purports to be the source of the diamond smuggling allegations against Grace and others, has denied any connection. He has said the cables are a lie.
Cranswick is therefore not likely to testify and vouch for the truthfulness of allegations that he has already publicly labelled falsehoods.
The fact that he has also said he never met a US official to discuss the issue only makes The Standard’s case even more wobbly.
So when the case opens The Standard will walk into court to fight probably the biggest libel case in the world without both the source of the information and the author of the document they used to write the story.
Predicament
In fact, Cranswick’s denials actually strengthen Grace’s case and she might call him to testify against the paper. Yet The Standard’s predicament gets bleaker when you analyse the way the story itself was written.
The paper will have to prove that it took pains to verify the allegations in the cable. They have to show that they investigated the validity and accuracy of the information they rushed to publish.
But their story does not show that the reporter did any work other than regurgitate what was contained in the cable. There is zilch evidence that they really tried to prove the allegations.
It gets worse.
The story does not even show that the paper tried to give Grace the right of reply as is required in journalism. It doesn’t even attempt to hide behind the routine excuse “efforts to get a comment were not successful at the time of going to press”.
Grace, by the way, has a fulltime spokesperson. Come the hearing day, The Standard might have neither witnesses nor sources to corroborate their story.
Neither will they have proof that they tried to verify the allegations or at least give Grace a chance to respond (this evidence should be in the story and not in the editor’s head).
If The Standard’s defence case has any leg to stand on then that leg is a crippled one that might not be able to support them for long in their battle against “the mother of all lawsuits”.
There are those arguing that the newspaper merely wrote what Wikileaks had already published and therefore it is not liable. Such kindergarten arguments will not carry the day in a court of law.
They are for bar-talk where they can impress people who would have imbibed “one too many”. Sober minds, especially in a court of law, will trash them.
The fact that the cables had already been leaked does not exempt a newspaper of the duty to verify the allegations contained therein.
Obligation
Remember a newspaper or any other medium can be sued for a story lifted from another publication. The Standard still had an obligation to probe those allegations before publishing.
Even if Cranswick admits that he made those allegations The Standard will still have to prove that they are true.
Yet those are not the only reasons why The Standard is in a tight spot in this case.
The merits of Grace’s case aside, there is also the fact that the High Court bench is generally pliable and too friendly to the government.
Most of the judges on that bench are actually too grateful for the funds and farms they got during the so-called land reform.
Imagine then, The Standard walking into a Zimbabwean court to face one of those meek judges with such a weak case. God forbid!
It is true that Grace’s reputation is not worth the US$15 million tag she has placed on it and that she is unlikely to get that much.
The amount demanded sounds more like an effort towards self-enrichment than redress.
So why did Grace pounce on a case that alleged her to be a thief of diamonds and not the one alleging she is adulterous?
At face value it doesn’t make sense that Grace could be angrier at being called a thief than being labelled an adulterous wife of the president.
It would seem senseless that she could pass an opportunity to get US$15 million from a rich UK paper and then try her luck with The Standard, a Zimbabwe paper so poor it can’t even pay a living wage to its reporters.
Collateral damage
The answer lies in the fact that the adultery case, which would have been heard in the UK, would have left her reputation in tatters. It had too much collateral damage.
How would she have answered the following questions from those media lawyers in the UK: Mrs Mugabe, have you ever committed adultery in your life?
When you first slept with your current husband (President Mugabe), were you still married to your first husband? And was your current husband still married to his wife?
Did you divorce your first husband first before you started an affair with your current husband?
You only need to Google the date of birth of one prominent teenager in Zimbabwe and the date of a certain high-profile wedding in the 1990s to see how tricky those questions would have been for Grace.
The UK papers would have made capital out of that case. Which paper would not have wanted to write about the wife of a despised African leader coming to London to defend allegations that she had an affair with one of her husband’s most trusted friends and banker?
Add that to the fact that UK judges cannot be influenced and are generally progressively in favour of the media and you see why she decided not to pursue the case even though she might have really wanted.
In the Wikileaks case Grace would not need to worry about those questions or the judge who will take the case.
Compliant judges
Even if the selection of the judge is random chances are very high that it will inevitably end up in the hands of one of those compliant judges.
Grace will just have to sit in court and watch the editor sink one nail after the other into the paper.
It is sad that when all is done, the story of whether Grace is really a diamond smuggler or not will still not have been written.
She might walk out of court with victory and a little pocket money not because she would have proven that she is not a diamond smuggler but because The Standard editors and reporters decided to walk around with their pens “cocked” and their eyes and minds closed.
Julian Assange’s gift to the media in the form of leaked US government cables might not be risk-free after all.
The cables might choke The Standard even though they were supposed to be a boon for the media. We wish The Standard all the best and hopefully we all as journalists learn from this sad episode.
*Mugari and Majonga are Zimbabwean journalists working in southern Africa.
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, DEFAMATION, JAMES MCGEE, WIKILEAKS
Read more...
COMMENT - Andrew Cranswick used dummy corporations to acquire more than his legal number of diamond claims. He also evaded taxes in (at least) Australia.
See here.
Govt cancels ACR mining claims
by Business Reporter
20/12/2010 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE will cancel all mineral claims held by Maidstone, England-based African Consolidated Resources Plc, said Obert Mpofu, the country's mines minister. The licenses "will be revoked because there were irregularities when they were issued," Mpofu said. "
All of them were acquired fraudulently."
He said the cancellation isn't related to President Robert Mugabe's warning last week that U.K. companies may face sanctions.
Mugabe said on Dec. 17 that it's "time to read the riot act" to the U.K. and other Western countries which have imposed sanctions against the president and some other members of his ruling party.
ACR has been involved in a dispute with the government over its rights to the Marange diamond field.
The company has been active in Zimbabwe since 2004 and has interests in gold, nickel, platinum and other commodities, according to its website.
Andrew Cranswick, chief executive officer of ACR, said the company has done nothing wrong.
"None of our claims, including those in Marange, were improperly acquired," he said. "We will do everything we can to protect our rights."
Cranswick is also at the centre of controversy after he was cited as the source of claims senior Zanu PF and government officials were involved in diamond claims in the country.
The ACR chief Executive was claimed to have been the source of the allegations in cables of US embassy communications released by the whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks.
Cranswick denies the allegations.
He has since been sued for US$10 million by the country’s secret intelligence boss, Happyton Bonyongwa over the allegations.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CORRUPTION, TAX EVASION
Read more...
COMMENT - Fantastic. The US 'regime change effort' is paying a heavy price for basing it's foreign policy information on a crook like Andrew Cranswick. He could be Zimbabwe's Curveball.
CIO boss, Gono demand millions over WikiLeaks
by Staff Reporter
17/12/2010 00:00:00
CENTRAL Intelligence Organisation boss, Happyton Bonyongwa and the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, have
filed multi-million dollar suits for damages following claims they were at the centre of diamond smuggling at the country.Bonyonga is demanding US$10 million from Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR) chief executive, Andrew Cranswick while Gono has slapped The Standard newspaper with a US$12.5 million dollar damages claim.
The claims come in the wake of another US$15 million damages suit filed against The Standard by President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
The three were fingered in classified communications from the US embassy in Harare which have been made public by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.
In one of the cables the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe wrote: “RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, Grace Mugabe, wife of President Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru, (the then) Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi, General Constantine Chiwenga and wife Jocelyn, CIO director Happyton Bonyongwe, Manicaland Governor Chris Mushohwe and several white Zimbabweans including Ken Sharpe, Greg Scott and Hendrick O’Neill, are involved in the Marange diamond trade".
The envoy said he had been informed of the officials' involvement in illicit diamond deals by Cranswick.
Gono and Grace Mugabe are suing The Standard for stories published in the newspaper which were based on the leaks.
Gono’s lawyer, George Chikumbirike, who is also representing Grace Mugabe, said The Standard’s reports were “false and highly defamatory of the Governor”.
However, Bonyongwa is demanding restitution directly from Cranswick, who was said to be the source of the allegations.
Joseph Mafusire of Harare law firm Scanlen and Holderness said claims his client was onvolved in diamond smuggling were false adding the reports had damaged Bonyongwa’s fame and reputation.
"Our client was never involved in any trade in diamonds from Chiadzwa or anywhere else. He has not been involved in any mineral of whatever kind in Zimbabwe or elsewhere," Mafusire said in his letter of demand.
Mafusire demanded that Cranswick pay his client US$10 million in damages within five days failing which summons would be issued out at the High Court.
Cranswick was not immediately available for comment but when the cables were released the ACR boss claimed he had not given any of the names published by WikiLeaks adding that he had “never met any US officials”.
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, CIO, GIDEON GONO, HAPPYTON BONYONGWA, WIKILEAKS
Read more...
COMMENT - Fantastic. The US is paying a heavy price for basing it's foreign policy information on a crook like Andrew Cranswick. He could be Zimbabwe's Curveball.
CIO boss, Gono demand millions over WikiLeaks
by Staff Reporter
17/12/2010 00:00:00
CENTRAL Intelligence Organisation boss, Happyton Bonyongwa and the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, have
filed multi-million dollar suits for damages following claims they were at the centre of diamond smuggling at the country.Bonyonga is demanding US$10 million from Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR) chief executive, Andrew Cranswick while Gono has slapped The Standard newspaper with a US$12.5 million dollar damages claim.
The claims come in the wake of another US$15 million damages suit filed against The Standard by President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
The three were fingered in classified communications from the US embassy in Harare which have been made public by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.
In one of the cables the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe wrote: “RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, Grace Mugabe, wife of President Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru, (the then) Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi, General Constantine Chiwenga and wife Jocelyn, CIO director Happyton Bonyongwe, Manicaland Governor Chris Mushohwe and several white Zimbabweans including Ken Sharpe, Greg Scott and Hendrick O’Neill, are involved in the Marange diamond trade".
The envoy said he had been informed of the officials' involvement in illicit diamond deals by Cranswick.
Gono and Grace Mugabe are suing The Standard for stories published in the newspaper which were based on the leaks.
Gono’s lawyer, George Chikumbirike, who is also representing Grace Mugabe, said The Standard’s reports were “false and highly defamatory of the Governor”.
However, Bonyongwa is demanding restitution directly from Cranswick, who was said to be the source of the allegations.
Joseph Mafusire of Harare law firm Scanlen and Holderness said claims his client was onvolved in diamond smuggling were false adding the reports had damaged Bonyongwa’s fame and reputation.
"Our client was never involved in any trade in diamonds from Chiadzwa or anywhere else. He has not been involved in any mineral of whatever kind in Zimbabwe or elsewhere," Mafusire said in his letter of demand.
Mafusire demanded that Cranswick pay his client US$10 million in damages within five days failing which summons would be issued out at the High Court.
Cranswick was not immediately available for comment but when the cables were released the ACR boss claimed he had not given any of the names published by WikiLeaks adding that he had “never met any US officials”.
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, CIO, GIDEON GONO, HAPPYTON BONYONGWA, WIKILEAKS
Read more...
Grace Mugabe sues paper over WikiLeaks story
HARARE, ZIMBABWE Dec 16 2010 11:02
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's wife is suing a newspaper for $15-million for publishing a WikiLeaks cable saying she benefited from illicit diamond trade, media reported on Thursday.
Last week, the Standard newspaper quoting a cable sent by United States ambassador James McGee to Washington in 2008, reported that Grace Mugabe gained millions of dollars from illegal diamonds mining, in the Marange district of eastern Zimbabwe.
The state-owned Herald reported that the First Lady had on Wednesday filed the defamation suit against the Standard.
"The plaintiff is of high standing in Zimbabwe ... furthermore she is the wife of His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe," Mugabe's lawyer, George Chikumbirike said.
'Mother of the nation'
"The imputation of such conduct on a person of such high standing, the mother of the nation, is to lower the respect with which is held by all right thinking persons, to a point of disappearance," said the summons.
Chikumbirike said the article wrongly portrayed Grace as corrupt in that "she used her position as the First Lady to access diamonds clandestinely, enriching herself in circumstances in which the country was facing serious foreign currency shortages".
In the cable, McGee says "high-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well-connected elites are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers to hand-extract diamonds".
The cable then discussed a meeting with Andrew Cranswick, chief executive of the British mining firm African Consolidates Resources, that had a claim to the Chiadzwa mine revoked by the Harare government, according to McGee.
"According to Cranswick, there is a small group of high-ranking Zimbabwean officials who have been extracting tremendous diamond profits from Chiadzwa," it said, naming Mugabe's wife Grace and Central Bank governor Gideon Gono.
Other Zimbabwean government officials implicated in the scandal include Vice-President Joyce Mujuru and the head of the army, General Constantine Chiwenga, according to the cable. - AFP
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, DEFAMATION, GRACE MUGABE, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, WIKILEAKS
Read more...
Of course Andrew Cranswick has now himself been shown to be extremely corrupt, getting more than the legal appropriation of diamond fields and evading taxes in Australia. See
Cranswick's minerals smuggling racket exposed and
ACR's Cranswick declared bankrupt in Australia, no perm domE.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018
TAGS: PGOV EMIN ASEC PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: REGIME ELITES LOOTING DEADLY DIAMOND FIELD
REF: 2007 HARARE 319
Classified By: Ambassador James D. McGee for reason 1.4 (d)
-------
SUMMARY
-------
¶1. (C) The
CEO of a British mining company described to us how high-ranking Zimbabwean government officials and well-connected elites are generating millions of dollars in personal income by hiring teams of diggers to hand-extract diamonds from the Chiadzwa mine in eastern Zimbabwe. They are selling the undocumented diamonds to a mix of foreign buyers including Belgians, Israelis, Lebanese, Russians and South Africans who smuggle them out of the country for cutting and resale elsewhere. Despite efforts to control the diamond site with police, the prospect of accessible diamonds lying just beneath the soil's surface has attracted a swarm of several thousand local and foreign diggers. The police response has been violent, with a handful of homicides reported each week, though that number could grow as diggers arm themselves and attract police and army deserters to their ranks. END SUMMARY
---------------------------------------
High-Ranking Officials Trading Diamonds
---------------------------------------
¶2. (C) On November 6, poloff met with Andrew Cranswick, the CEO of African Consolidated Resources (ACR), the publicly-traded British firm that had its Chiadzwa diamond claim in the Marange district of Manicaland seized by the government parastatal Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) in 2006 (reftel). According to Cranswick, there is a small group of high-ranking Zimbabwean officials who have been extracting tremendous diamond profits from Chiadzwa. Cranswick said that RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, Grace Mugabe, wife of President Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joyce Mujuru, Mines and Mining Development Minister Amos Midzi, General Constantine Chiwenga and wife Jocelyn, CIO Director Happyton Bonyongwe, Manicaland Governor Chris Mushowe, and several white Zimbabweans, including Ken Sharpe, Greg Scott, and Hendrik O,Neill, are all involved in the Marange diamond trade.
¶3. (C) On October 14, econ specialist traveled to the periphery of the no-go area around the Chiadzwa diamond site located about 60 km southwest of Mutare in Manicaland. Repeated inquiries about who was involved in the diamond trade elicited many of the same names mentioned by Cranswick.
¶4. (C) Econ specialist also met with Manatsawani Mutasa, a ZANU-PF Central Committee member and Manicaland resident, who added that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Women's Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri, and Sabina Mugabe--sister of President Mugabe--have also been profiting from the purchase and sale of Chiadzwa diamonds.
------------------------------------
How the Chiadzwa Diamond Trade Works
------------------------------------
¶5. (C) The GOZ possesses the diamond mining rights to Chiadzwa, but the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) does not do any extraction itself. The ZMDC brought in some mining equipment in 2006 after seizing the mining rights from ACR, but their efforts were minimal and soon halted altogether. According to Cranswick, all extraction is now being done by hand panners who merely sift the top meter of soil. Some of these panners operate in teams that sell
HARARE 00001016 002 OF 005
their diamonds to representatives of the above-named officials and connected elites. Other panners are individual operators who merely sell to the highest bidder. Often the panners who are affiliated with a particular regime buyer, will only sell a portion of their diamonds to that person's representative, holding back the remainder to sell for higher prices to foreign buyers offering hard currency.
¶6. (C) The diamonds that are sold to regime members and elites are sold for freshly printed Zimbabwean notes issued by the RBZ. These diamonds are aggregated and resold to foreign buyers for US dollars or rand in nearby Mutare, in Harare, over the border in the Mozambican towns of Manica and Chimoio, or even in South Africa. (NOTE: Econ specialist reported that Mutare was awash with diamond money. The Holiday Inn was booked with guests checking in for weeks at a time. Food prices in shops near Marange were exorbitant, with meat prices four times higher than in Harare. END NOTE.)
¶7. (C) The diamonds that are not sold to regime members and elites, but instead are sold directly to foreign buyers, actually constitute the majority of the diamond trade in Chiadzwa. Cranswick said that around 85 percent of the diamonds extracted from Chiadzwa are sold directly to foreign buyers. Even so, he conservatively estimated that Mujuru, Gono and the rest were probably each making several hundred thousand dollars a month.
¶8. (C) Whether bought first by regime members or not, eventually the diamonds are sold to a mix of Belgians, Israelis, Lebanese (the largest contingent), Russians, and
South Africans. A well-known buyer named Gonyeti fronts for Gono, as do two other buyers named Tendai Makurumidze and Takunda Nyaguze, according to Mutasa. Once sold to foreigners, the majority of the diamonds are smuggled to Dubai and sold at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, a dedicated economic free-trade zone created in 2002 for the exchange of metals and commodities, most notably gold and diamonds. Although Zimbabwe is a participant in the Kimberley process, the diamonds from Chiadzwa are undocumented and therefore are not in compliance with Kimberley, which requires loose uncut diamonds to be certified.
¶9. (C) The highest quality diamonds are not sent to Dubai,
but are shipped to Belgium, Israel, or South Africa for
cutting. Despite this wide dispersal, Chiadzwa diamonds are
very distinctive because of their age, color, and clarity and
can easily be traced back to the Marange mine, according to
Cranswick. He implicated Ernie Blom, president of South
Africa's Diamond Merchants Association in the illicit trade
of Chiadzwa diamonds, and said that Blom had been known to
boast of his involvement in illegal Zimbabwean diamonds.
When asked why purportedly reputable diamond dealers would
involve themselves in Chiadzwa, Cranswick said that the site
was "massive" with tremendous profit potential that was
attracting numerous buyers. One such group consisted of
Russians who had recently bought US$500,000 worth of diamonds
at an MMCZ auction, paying US$29/carat. They bought eight to
ten carat rough diamonds, five to ten percent of which were
gem quality.
--------------------------------
Diamond Trade a Violent Business
--------------------------------
¶10. (C) The diamond frenzy in Chiadzwa has led to hundreds
and possibly thousands of homicides. Word of easy diamonds
spurred a rush of Zimbabwean and foreign diggers to the area
including Angolans, Congolese, Mozambicans, South Africans
and Zambians, as well as diggers from as far away as Sierra
HARARE 00001016 003 OF 005
Leone and Cote D'Ivoire Cranswick estimated there are
currently around three or four thousand diggers swarming over
the 70 hectare Chiadzwa site. The police have unsuccessfully
tried to prevent the site from becoming overrun, and
routinely use live fire to chase away diggers. Anyone trying
to enter the area has to present a Zimbabwean national
identification card with a registration number that ends in
"75", signifying the person is a resident of the Mutare
region of Manicaland.
¶11. (C) During the first weekend of November, police killed
at least five panners in Chiadzwa, according to the on-line
newspaper Zimbabwe Times. While usually operating on foot
with attack dogs, this time the police used a helicopter to
shoot at panners. Passmore Nyakureba, a lawyer with the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said, "This has become an
everyday scenario. Up to five people die every week as a
result of being shot at by police or after being bitten by
dogs." Cranswick said that at the peak of the frenzy in
2007, up to a hundred panners were shot in a week.
¶12. (C) In response to aggressive police action, diggers
began arming themselves with handguns and in some cases
automatic weapons. They also formed loose gangs in an
attempt to protect themselves as well as "claimed" areas.
Cranswick said that some members of the police and army have
deserted in order to join the digging, and they typically
brought their firearms with them. Some former police even
still wear their uniforms as they search for diamonds.
-------------------------------------
Police Corrupted; Community Destroyed
-------------------------------------
¶13. (C) Cranswick said that the police were rotated into the
area on two-week shifts to control the mining and keep
unauthorized diggers out, but they were immediately
corrupted. Police officers routinely charged 100 rand or
US$10 a person for a day's digging in Chiadzwa. The military
has largely avoided the area out of fear that commanding
officers would lose control of their troops, according to
Cranswick.
¶14. (C) Cranswick maintained that local chiefs were on ACR's
side in its pending court battle to win back its claim. They
realized that the "curse" of diamonds had wreaked havoc in
the community. Children were no longer attending school, the
environmental degradation was severe, lawlessness and
violence reigned, and the community was not benefiting from
the resource. According to an independent weekly newspaper,
three quarters of the schools in Marange, Buhera, and
Chimanimani districts failed to open this term because
teachers and students alike were digging for diamonds.
----------------
What's At Stake?
----------------
¶15. (C) Chiadzwa has the potential of being a major source
of industrial and gem quality diamonds. What makes it so
commercially valuable is that it possesses a diverse mix of
different size and color stones, all within just a few meters
of the surface. It also has a high carat per hundred tons
(CPHT) ratio, a measure the industry uses to characterize the
diamond concentration. Cranswick told us he was
confidentially shown a report prepared for the De Beers
Corporation by noted geologist John Ward. The report
estimated that Chiadzwa had a CPHT of over 1,000. By
comparison, the Rio Tinto/Rio Zimbabwe-owned Murowa diamond
mine near Zvishavane in Midlands province has a CPHT of 120.
HARARE 00001016 004 OF 005
¶16. (C) Eye witnesses and panners told us that they were extracting both industrial and gem quality stones, but predominantly the former. Cranswick believed that the site
had 30 to 40 percent industrial diamonds and the rest gem quality, including very good quality five to 30 carat colored diamonds. In his view, the area could be commercially exploited for five to 25 years, including excavation of diamond yielding hard rock that ran deeper than the one meter depth currently being worked. Econ specialist also was told that another diamond field was discovered this year within five km of Chiadzwa at the village of Chirasika. Panners had begun working the site and it had not yet become a police-restricted area. We have no estimates for the potential of this new diamond discovery.
¶17. (C) On October 27, Gono publicly declared that the
Zimbabwean economy could be turned around by stemming losses
caused by illegal mining at Chiadzwa. According to Gono, "A
reliable estimate shows that US$1.2 billion per month would
be realized from diamond sales in the country, enough to
solve the economic challenges the country is currently
facing." Cranswick said that while the estimate is probably
exaggerated, Gono may be looking for a large one time
dividend by selling a share of the mine or the mining rights
to an outside investor. This would dwarf the relatively
small profits he is now accruing from the mine.
¶18. (C) ACR has offered the government a deal in which ACR would take a 49 percent share of all diamond proceeds and
give the rest to the GOZ, but Cranswick did not seem
optimistic that the government would accept the deal.
-----------------------------
Two Other Major Diamond Mines
-----------------------------
¶19. (U) Murowa is a well-regulated mine operated by the
British multinational mining giant Rio Tinto, which since
2004 has held a 78 percent share in the open-pit Murowa
diamond mine in Zvishavane district, in southern Masvingo
province. Murowa is a deep kimberlitic deposit that requires
heavy machinery to extract the soil and rock.
¶20. (U) River Ranch is partially owned by retired General Solomon Mujuru (husband of Vice President Joyce Mujuru) and is located in Beitbridge in Matabeleland South. Mujuru gained a 20 percent stake in the mine at the expense of a local company, Bubye Minerals, which was pushed out to Mujuru's benefit. Bubye Minerals contested the ownership change, but was thwarted by the Zimbabwean courts. It is unclear if Mujuru purchased his stake.
-------
COMMENT
-------
¶21. (C) In a country filled with corrupt schemes, the diamond business in Zimbabwe is one of the dirtiest. Mining in general remains the largest single source of foreign exchange, but the potential of Chiadzwa is being lost to Zimbabwean corruption. While Gono talks about using diamonds to stabilize the Zimbabwean economy, he would only do so if he thought he could personally make more in the process. At present, police trying to bring order to Chiadzwa are benefiting Zimbabwean officials who see the diamond field as a new source of illegitimateincome; the people of Zimbabwe are seeing little return.
¶22. (C) It is also clear that Cranswick is a businessman trying to find any pressure point he can through which to leverage his own claim. At the same time, he sheds light on
HARARE 00001016 005 OF 005
an industry that is enriching many of the same old corrupt Zimbabwean elite--and causing violence and deaths that so far have received little attention. END COMMENT.
MCGEE
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, BLOOD DIAMONDS, CORRUPTION, JAMES MCGEE
Read more...
COMMENT - See also here in
the Sydney Morning Herald. I wonder what Sue Lloyd Roberts makes of that. She seemed very sympathetic to him when she interviewed him on his difficulties getting back his diamond mine claims. I wonder how loud the cries for obeying the 'rule of law' are going to be.
This is proof if any was needed, that all mining should be in the hands of the government. These people have no compunction about stealing from some of the poorest people on the planet, and not only should they go to jail for life, the mining industry in Africa must be completely government owned. That is the only way to benefit from Africa's resources.
Cranswick's minerals smuggling racket exposed
By: TSM
Posted: Saturday, November 27, 2010 11:48 pm
AFRICAN Consolidated Resources (ACR) boss Andrew Cranswick, who is facing prosecution for allegedly acquiring diamond mining claims fraudulently, has made stunning confessions that he engaged in questionable activities after taking advantage of “lax” monitoring systems in Zimbabwe.
These include
smuggling precious minerals, externalising foreign currency and tax evasion. The startling revelations were last week exposed by the
Australian Business Day newspaper, which is in possession of a transcript of Cranswick’s interview with the
Australian Tax Office (ATO) which last month declared the controversial businessman bankrupt over a $1.1 million (Australian dollars) tax debt.
In a feature article titled “The bankrupt CEO and one hell of a secret” published last Wednesday, the Australian paper revealed details of Cranwick’s interview with ATO officials during which the businessman stated how he was secretly selling minerals from several African countries, including Zimbabwe, to businessmen from Asia.
The interview was reportedly conducted by ATO auditors Robert Dimitrovski, Glenn Lucy and Adriel Creta in April last year as part of an inquiry into Cranwick’s shadowy financial affairs.
The Australia Business Day described Cranswick’s financial and personal affairs as complex after noting that although he was resident in Zimbabwe, his income was coming from Mauritius while his resources company (ACR) was listed in London with his bank account and yacht club membership being held in Australia.
During the interview, it emerged that Cranwick’s dealings revolved around a company called Adonis Investments, a small shareholder in ACR that was originally run from the British Channel Islands but now based in Mauritius.
Adonis holds some of Cranswick's 2.7 per cent stake in London Stock Exchange-listed African Consolidated Resources, where Cranswick is still chief executive, despite the Australian bankruptcy order.
Cranswick confessed that his investment vehicle, Adonis, was doing much more than holding his stock (in ACR) and collecting his wages, but was behind the smuggling of precious minerals to Dubai and the externalisation of huge sums of money from Zimbabwe.
“Obviously to those authorities (in Zimbabwe), it’s got to be a hell of a secret,” Cranswick reportedly told the ATO officials.
“Metals are traded on quite a large scale, mostly silver and gold and a bit of cobalt and copper, where the broker is a legit firm, a big firm in Dubai called ARY Refineries, if you want to put that down.
“They (buyers) don’t know Zambia, Zimbabwe, Congo, Mozambique and how to find people and how to operate on the ground,” Cranswick reportedly said.
ARY Traders is one of Dubai’s biggest gold dealers and is run by Pakistani businessman Abdul Razzak Yaqoob.
On the externalisation of funds, Cranswick told the Australian investigators that Adonis was working in conjunction with one Tony Csaszar, a Mauritian or South African resident to move funds from Zimbabwe.
Under the arrangement, Cranswick would introduce clients to Csaszar after which he would reap a 25 percent share of any profit from every sucessful transaction.
“If there is a transaction, lets say someone in Zimbabwe says ok, listen, I need to get money out of the country, I introduce them to Tony.
“I say this is the chap, he wants to send it (money) to the UK or Australia or whatever the case may be and then Tony negotiates with him. He (Tony) copies me in on what he’s done,” revealed Cranswick.
He told ATO investigators that he was a resident of Zimbabwe but had not paid any tax here because “the system had completely broken down due to hyperinflation”.
He said he had paid some tax in Britain but had not paid Australian tax since 2004 because he was not an Australian resident.
Cranswick left Australia on June 9, 2009 and has not returned there despite a promise that he would go back.
Perth Federal Court Justice Neil McKerracher ordered him bankrupted on October 27 this year, appointing Anthony Warner of CRS Warner Kuger as trustee in bankruptcy.
Cranswick told the media earlier this month that he would not return to Australia where he is wanted for tax evasion declaring that he was very much at home in Zimbabwe.
Cranswick is embroiled in a bitter fight with the Government which this year cancelled his mining claims in the Marange diamond fields on the basis that the mining rights were fraudulently acquired.
The Government has since announced its intention to prosecute Cranswick on fraud charges.
It was not clear whether Cranswick also illegally exported diamonds along with the other minerals he mentioned to the Australians.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CORRUPTION, DIAMONDS
Read more...
ACR's Cranswick declared bankrupt in Australia, no perm dom
By: Ralph Mutema
Posted: Thursday, November 11, 2010 10:08 am
AFRICAN Consolidated Resources chief executive officer Mr Andrew Cranswick has been declared bankrupt in Australia for alleged tax evasion to the tune of A$1 million. Mr Cranswick is believed to be currently operating from Kent, United Kingdom where ACR is headquartered.
A source told the Sydney Herald that Cranswick, while in self-imposed exile, is currently a permanent resident of no country and keeps moving through Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Britain.
His company in Zimbabwe has been charged with unlawfully acquiring diamond claims at Chiadzwa by using subsidiary companies that were unregistered at the time
Cranswick says he cannot dare to come back to Australia because authorities there have made it clear they would block his exit to Africa and Europe - and hence his livelihood.
The Aussie Federal Court, in his absence, ruled last week that the mining executive became bankrupt, owing almost $1 million in taxes and interest, which has almost the same value in American dollars, on June 9 last year - the day he left Australia for the last time.
Cranswick had no chance to defend himself in Asutralia because notification of the tax case was sent to his estranged wife's address rather than to the home he has owned in Zimbabwe since 1990.
The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation in the Federal Court of Australia on October 27 issued the order against Mr Cranswick, which allows the state to attach any of his properties to recover the money.
"The sequestration order has risen pursuant to a creditor’s petition served on Mr Cranswick on Dece-mber 8, 2009 relating to unpaid taxes in Australia following an act of bankruptcy on June 9, 2009," read part of the notice.
In September, Cranswick’s ACR lost its diamond mining licence in Marange after it turned out that the London-registered company had fraudulently acquired the rights.
The business executive has accused Australia of violating his civil liberties by demanding tax from him when he is not a resident.
The Australian Taxation Office deemed Mr Cranswick as a resident for tax purposes, a decision the Federal Court upheld.
The ATO had argued in court that Mr Cranswick had declared on his passenger cards on 28 trips to Australia that he was a resident returning to the country and he intended to stay there for the next 12 months.
The Tax Office had also submitted that the business executive had bank accounts in Australia, received payments from overseas and admitted that he owned two properties there.
But Mr Cranswick protested, arguing that during the targeted years of 2005 to 2009, he resided and worked in Zimbabwe and could thus not be taxed in Australia.
He said his many visits to Australia were to see his daughters who live in Perth with his ex-wife.
They now stand to lose their house.
It is Mr Cranswick’s argument that he was denied a chance to defend himself as the notification was sent to his ex-wife’s address rather than to Harare.
''I suppose I might find some comfort in the curious truth that I am freer in Mugabe's Zimbabwe than I could ever have been in Australia,'' he wrote to the Australian paper.
Cranswick has been likened to Indiana Jones, which he finds embarrassing. Rather, he draws a comparison with the Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, who temporarily lost his freedom to leave Australia amid a battle with the Tax Office.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK
Read more...
Mining firm charged with fraud
by Nelson Banya, Reuters
08/11/2010 00:00:00
ZIMBABWE focused African Consolidated Resources (ACR) has been charged with fraud and violating the country’s precious stones laws and will soon appear in the high court, the company said.
ACR said it faced allegations of unlawfully acquiring diamond claims in Marange by using subsidiary companies that were unregistered at the time, a process the authorities considered fraudulent.
"ACR has been legally advised that this should make no difference to the validity of the Marange Claims and accordingly that the charges are groundless," the company said.
London-listed ACR is already involved in a court battle with the Zimbabwean government which cancelled the company’s claims in the Marange fields in the east of the country in 2006.
Zimbabwe’s high court confirmed ACR’s titles in a Sept. 2009 ruling. It rescinded that decision this year, citing irregularities in the acquisition and registration of claims.
Last week, Zimbabwe police arrested six directors linked to a joint venture firm mining diamonds in Marange, also on allegations of fraudulently acquiring the concession.
The arrested executives include five officials from the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and a Zimbabwean representative of its South African partner, Core Mining and Minerals, in the 50-50 diamond mining joint venture, Canadile Miners.
A magistrate will rule on Tuesday on the executives’ bail application.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CORRUPTION, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS
Read more...
ACR faces prosecution over illegal diamond mining
By: Our reporter
Posted: Saturday, October 2, 2010 11:40 pm
THE Government of Zimbabwe intends to prosecute mining company African Consolidated Resources (ACR) after the High Court ruled that the London Stock Exchange-listed firm fraudulently acquired rights to mine diamonds at the Chiadzwa fields in Manicaland.
Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana last week confirmed that the Government had already prepared the necessary paperwork. He said
the company faces fraud and unlawful diamond possession charges after it was found guilty of acquiring mining claims using the names of unregistered companies.
It also emerged that ACR was allegedly masquerading as a geological surveyor at the fields while allegedly mining and buying gems from illegal miners.
It allegedly mined and bought about 129 000 carats.
The State will, therefore, proceed to prosecute the company whose chief executive officer, Mr Andrew Cranswick, is believed to be living in Kent in the United Kingdom.
Mr Cranswick left Zimbabwe when the case against ACR started over a year ago and has not been in the country since.
Chief Law Officer in the AG’s Office Mr Chris Mutangadura said the prosecution would be twin-pronged.
“As you know, the High Court ruled that ACR fraudulently acquired claims in Chiadzwa,” he said.
“The State has two cases against the company. The first is that the four companies that it used to acquire claims (Heavy Stuff, Dashaloo, Olebile and Possession Investments) were yet to be registered and this constituted fraud through misrepresentation.
“The second case is that ACR pegged claims in an area that was designated reserved.
“The company also posed as though it was not mining. They even wrote correspondence to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development (Obert Mpofu) stating that they were not mining.
“However, it was noted that they mined 129 000 carats. They also bought diamonds from illegal miners.
“That in itself is unlawful possession of diamonds.”
Last month, High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe nullified ACR’s licence to mine at the diamond fields after it emerged that the company had acquired claims fraudulently.
The ruling rescinded an earlier judgment passed on September 27 last year validating ACR claims.
In light of fresh evidence, Justice Hungwe said ACR had concealed important information.
“Only a person can be granted a prospecting licence. Since none (of the subsidiaries) was incorporated, there was no person to release a certificate of mining,” he said.
“It seems to me now that quite a lot of information was kept away from the court.”
Labels: AFRICA CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CHIADZWA, JOHANNES TOMANA
Read more...
Gvt will never negotiate with ACR: Mpofu
By: Ranganai Chidemo
Posted: Sunday, August 1, 2010 1:05 am
GOVERNMENT says it will never enter into a diamond mining agreement with African Consolidated Resources (ACR) as it mined diamonds in Zimbabwe illegally and is the subject of a police investigation.
Mines and Minerals Development Minister Obert Mpofu said when ACR obtained its mining license for Chiadzwa it did not even exist as a company.
“At the time of the registration of the mining claims, the ACR group did not exist and, consequently, the claims were registered through fraudulent misrepresentation," read a report compiled by the minister.
"... and in doing so the ACR group did not comply with mandatory requirements set out in the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 21: 05).”
Article continues below
Minister Mpofu also added that Government would not enter into any negotiations with ACR on the sale of stockpiles of Marange diamonds, or entertain the idea of a 50/50 revenue sharing deal from the proceeds of that sale.
“We are going to let the law take its course and it is daydreaming for anyone to think that the Government will ever negotiate with ACR.
"They have been busy lying about our diamonds to the international community. They have been looting our diamonds,” alleged Minister Mpofu.
Police investigations into the London-listed company are still going on.
Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana on Friday confirmed that police were looking into whether ACR fraudulently pegged mining claims within a period that was impossible to register mining claims.
Mr Tomana said more than 129 000 carats of diamonds were being held at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as an exhibit.
“The investigations are ongoing. The diamonds mined are the subject of criminal investigation,” said Mr Tomana.
ACR did not exist during the time the claims were said to be registered, rendering the process fraudulent, according to police reports.
Labels: AFRICA CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES, ANDREW CRANSWICK, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, OBERT MPOFU
Read more...
ACR requests Biti's mediation
By: TZG-TFG
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 1:10 pm
AFRICAN Consolidated Resources (ACR) has written directly to Finance Minister Tendai Biti to help it strike a 50/50 mining deal with government at Chiadzwa diamond fields.
The London-registered and London listed company said it is agreeable to an out of court settlement, and want the minister to act as a broker for such a deal. ACR said Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu, would not be the ideal person to honour such a deal, which government is unlikely to approve of.
In Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review statement presented earlier this month, Mr Biti suggested an "out of court settlement" between ACR and government over the diamond claims.
Government accusses ACR of fraudulently obtaining mining claims to mine diamonds at Chiadzwa in the Eastern district's Marange fields.
The case is currently before the Supreme Court after government appealed against last year’s verdict delivered by High Court Judge, Charles Hungwe, which said the claims belonged to the mining company.
“We remain willing to consider any reasonable proposal to resolve matters amicably," wrote ACR's Chief Executive Mr Andrew Cranswick to Mr Biti.
Mr Cranswick, who is now temporarily exiled to the United Kingdom where ACR is registered added: "Unfortunately, there is animosity and mistrust between parties at present and accordingly we would welcome a pro-active role from your office to bring the parties to a negotiating table, on an entirely without prejudice basis.”
The communication was also copied to President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who have always remained uninvolved in the legal wrangle.
“Whilst we remain confident that the law and the facts are clearly supportive of our position, we appreciate that this is a matter of national importance, which must be resolved, preferably by acceptable compromise,” added Mr Cranswick.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK
Read more...
African journalists leading the miseducation of our people
By: Nancy Lovedale
Posted: Thursday, April 29, 2010 6:33 am
AFRICAN journalists have a very long way to go, especially the breed that is employed in western-run media houses. Ironically, they are the biggest chunk of reporters on Africa, but not in Africa.
I chuckled when I heard a recent interview between Lance Guma of SW Radio Africa and Andrew Cranswick the CEO of African Consolidated Resources (ACR) - the company claiming to have rights to mine at Chiadzwa in Marange District of Zimbabwe. ACR's claim was cancelled by government over claims that it was obtained fraudulently.
As someone who has been following that case, I expected to hear crucial questions like:
Can you please tell us how you got your licence?
Can you comment on why top officials within the mines ministry are being investigated for fraudulently granting certificates of registration to your company?
Why did you name ACR subsidiaries that were not registered, at the time of application of Certificates of Registration, (e.g. Dashaloo Investment which was incorporated on 29 June 2006, yet from the records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry, it registered its claims on 4 April 2006 and 1 June 2006)?
Why is the main company registered in England and banking offshore, with all white directors, yet it claims to have black directors on its books?
Why are you not in Zimbabwe at the moment? How did you mine 129,000 carats of diamonds from the Marange diamonds when you claim government was killing people there?
Where you complicit in that process? Why did you not stop mining when you discovered these "killings"?
Why are the 129,000 carats now labelled "blood diamonds" when they were mined by ACR?
Is ACR a blood diamonds company now?
These are just some of the questions that could be asked. These are the issues that Zimbabweans want to know.
The lopsidedness of the interview was interesting. It happens everytime a white or MDC-T interviewee is on that station. They are treated with kid gloves and it seems there's a presumption of innocence on these people. They can never do wrong, yet everytime a Zanu-PF member appears on that station it is almost confrontational and it always ends with, "We told you how these people are!" It seems there's always that need to present Zanu-PF in bad light, rather than to question, probe and find out exactly what is going on.
A recent story on President Ahmadinejad's visit to Zimbabwe was interesting. SW Radio got a highly speculative story from the UK's Telegraph newspaper that claimed a uranium deal between Zimbabwe and Iran had been signed, and ran with it. One would think The Telegraph should learn from Zimbabwe, not vice versa. Why should The Telegraph, based in a former colony, tell the Zimbabwean story? This is the excitement and incitement that feeds into the mentality of our people.
Mr Guma sounded sympathetic with Mr Cranswick and severally referred to "your claim" in reference to the revoked claim. He (Mr Guma) played judge and jury. Because of that "compassion", he failed to ask the right questions and Mr Cranswick almost took advantage of that soft line of questioning and started formulating his own questions and answers, and Mr Guma ended up as a listener on his own show.
Mr Guma is just a microcosm of a larger problem in the media. He is an employee of an organisation that has its own agenda. The "news" that is broadcast on SW Radio is lopsided, and one can almost sense some desperation in the line of reporting: desperation to darken Zimbabwe's successes. The website looks like a campaign group's website, yet they claim to run a programme called "Newsreel". This would give the impression that they are broadcasting news on Zimbabwe. But how could news be one-sided? You almost have the feeling that Zimbabwe does not exist anymore when you are on SW Radio, yet on a recent trip back home, I saw a different Zimbabwe. The irony is that, that "station" claims to fight for democracy and media neutrality by constantly attacking The Herald and Zimbabwe's ministry of information and publicity.
One of the problems that organisations like SW Radio have is, they are run by western-based African journalists who rely on "eye-witnesses" and pseudonymed reporters to come up with negative stories about Zimbabwe daily, inorder to promote a particular agenda. The journalists who "tell the story" have their own agenda: to feed half-baked stories that support a particular line of reporting and thereby earn a living. This works well for both parties. It's a marriage of convenience. The problem is that Zimbabwe loses, Africa loses.
This problem is reinforced by a number of "political and economic commentators" who are also trapped in cradles of inferiority; and are happy and forever grateful for that job in the west, or that "leave to remain" in the country, or that cheque sent through the post. You can almost feel the sense of thankfulness in their commentary (serving the master well). These analysts are fed on Euro-centric education and taught about "human rights" and "freedom of speech" to a point where they accept, without question, the western packaging of Africa.
There's not many of them, but they are enough to do the damage. They are often recycled and ready to comment even on issues that are clearly beyond their comprehension.
Then there is a western media organisation like CNN that grants accolades and prizes to "African journalists of outstanding stature", whom they never subsequently employ in their organisations. These African journalists win prizes by telling negative stories about governments that are at loggerheads with the west.
That is always the trend. We see this trend repeated in other non-media western organisations, for instance, Finance Minister Tendai Biti was awarded the Euromoney Emerging Markets award for Best Finance Minister in Africa 2009.
The irony of this award is interesting. The west does not consider Zimbabwe an emerging market, and FM Biti is actually calling Zimbabwe a basket case that needs to declare itself a Highly Indebted Poor Country. Mr Biti had only been in that position for only one year, and was complaining that his job was muzzled by politics. How could he have won that award? Does he truly believe he is "The Best Finance Minister in Africa"?
Feels like the Nobel Committee awarding US President Mr Barack Obama, a peace prize, for work "he will do" in future. Now that work is proving to be different, for instance, sending more troops and equipment to the Middle East "to ensure peace", the Nobel Committee stands in disrepute.
I find it difficult to believe that the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Competition is now looked at with so much prestige by African journalists; yet the station does not carry anchors from the continent.. The competition is now in its 15th year, and now truly established as a way for African journalists "to better their lives.”
A close look at CNN would reveal the following:
no positive coverage on Africa (almost confrontational, e.g. when President Mugabe was recently on the Armanpour programme);
Africanisation of HIV/AIDS, violence, civil wars (yet the black population in the US has high HIV/AIDS incidents and violence is rife in Iraq and Afghanistan);
no appreciation of Africa's past, e.g. slavery, colonialism and imperialism (yet the Holocaust takes centre-stage in reporting on Israel);
no appreciation that Africa is a work-in-progress, shaped by past depredations (yet the Arab-Israeli, the Taliban, and the Irish problems are considered as such).
There is no appreciation that the crude lines that mark African nations today were drawn by the west (at the Berlin Conferences of 1884-86), and are the source of land problems in Africa today.
Western media today rarely hires black newscasters, or they hire one or two to silence critics. And where they do so, they hire biracial (or light-skinned) newscasters, not the ones from Africa that they give accolades to. Most of the journalists who get accolades have to struggle to get back into newsrooms back home, but that becomes difficult because what earned them the accolades in the first place, would not earn them a job back home.
When Africa is viewed with such scorn and disdain, we have to ask the African journalist being fed on western crumbs the following questions: Why are you purveyors of African mediocrity? Why do you need tokens, hollow awards that are not recognised both in the west and back on the Motherland? Why are you the subtext of our inferiorization? Why are you eager to cheer westernism, and support western jaundiced views of the African?
Unless Africans start showing the true light of what Africa has gone through and present it as an unifinished story and a continent that has gone through a traumatic time instituted by the west, there can never be peace on the continent.
The arguments peddled by west about corruption, violence, etc on the continent are just a distraction to the role the west continues to play in the unfolding African story.
When Mr Obama says Africa can no longer blame the west for its ills, he is being ahistoric and arrogant. Its like saying you cannot accept that you are a product of your parentage. History cannot be erased, and people should read his book, "Dreams From My Father" to see how history shapes the person, no matter what you go through or who you think you are.
For Africa, that history is the history of plunder by the west, of removal of 90 percent of its able-bodied people over decades, through slavery; of extraction of its resources to feed "development" in the west.
If the media, especially our own journalists, cannot tell the African story and contextualise it, they cannot expect those who have caused Africa to be what it is today, to tell that story because it will implicate them. If the African journalist fails to ask the right questions or continues to treat the west with kid gloves, all will be lost in translation and the miseducation of our young people will become commonplace.
_____________________________
Nancy Lovedale writes from Beijing, China. She grew up in Arcadia in Harare and supports Dynamos FC and Arsenal FC. You can reach her via nancy_lovedale@yahoo.com
Labels: ANDREW CRANSWICK, BLOOD DIAMONDS, DIAMONDS, MEDIA, NANCY LOVEDALE, PROPAGANDA, SW RADIO
Read more...
ACR diamond mining licence cancelled
By: TH-tzg
Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2010 12:28 pm
THE Government of Zimbabwe has finally cancelled African Consolidated Resources’ Chiadzwa diamonds mining licence after an unsuccessful appeal by the London Stock Exchange listed company.
The news comes as Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu denied having any relations with Mbada Holdings, one of the investors mining in the Marange diamond fields, as had been speculated in certain sections of the media.
Government had, through Secretary for Mines and Mining Development, Mr Thankful Musukutwa, served ACR with a notice to cancel its claims last month arguing that they were pegged in an area reserved against prospecting.
It was Mr Musukutwa’s intention to cancel the licence on March 10, 2010 for this reason. It was also believed that ACR's diamond licence was obtained fraudulently.
President Mugabe this month revealed at a meeting with journalists that ACR had obtained its licence after the flight of DeBeers, who were illegally extracting and exporting diamonds from the Chiadzwa district for 15 years without the knowledge of government.
DeBeers had misinformed government that they were prospecting for the precious mineral, when they were infact mining and exporting it.
"ACR just inherited the claims from DeBeers where they (DeBeers) managed to hide from us information regarding the Chiadzwa diamonds for more than 15 years," said President Mugabe.
“DeBeers was telling us that they were just testing to evaluate whether they were diamonds or not, ivo vachitokumba madiamonds edu kuenda nawo kuSouth Africa (whilst looting those diamonds and taken them to South Africa).
"When we discovered what was happening, DeBeers ran away and ACR inherited the claims.
ACR appealed against the decision by Mr Musukutwa to the minies minister in accordance with the Mines and Minerals Act.
After considering ACR’s grounds for appeal, Mpofu on Wednesday cancelled ACR’s title to Marange, reiterating that its claims were pegged in a reserved area.
"I hereby, in accordance with the provisions of Section 50 (4) and (5) of the Act give directions to you and the Secretary that the Certificates of Registration are to be cancelled. In cancelling the Certificates of Registration, no concession is made that the ACR certificates of registration were ever valid," he said.
Mpofu said he was satisfied that Mr Musukutwa had exercised his discretion fairly, reasonably and correctly when he invoked Section 50 of the Mines and Minerals Act.
"The pegging of claims in a reserved area is simply a matter that the Secretary, vested as he is with the duty of overseeing the administration of the ministry, cannot ignore.
"I am satisfied that the grounds detailed in the notice of appeal do not warrant me exercising my discretion in favour of the ACR group in general and the ACR subsidiaries in particular in relation to the certificates of Registration," he said.
Mpofu said ACR had also acquired its claims fraudulently.
"On 19 February 2004 the area more fully described in Reservation Notice number 1518 was declared a Reservation Area with effect 0600hrs on 20 February 2004 . . . The Certificates of Registration are all dated subsequent to the date upon which the Reservation Notice became effective.
"At the time the Certificates of Registration were purportedly registered, the ACR subsidiaries were non existent, and according to the Chief Mining Commissioner, fraudulent misrepresentations were made to the Assistant Mining Commissioner that the ACR subsidiaries were in existence," Mpofu said.
The ACR subsidiaries are Dashaloo Investment, Possession Investments, Olebile Investment and Heavy Stuff Investment.
According to Mpofu, Dashaloo was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006, whereas from the records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry, it appears that Dashaloo registered its claims on 4 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.
Possession was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006, whereas from the records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry it appears that Possession registered its claims on 4 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.
Mpofu says Heavy Stuff was incorporated on or about 14 July 2006 yet from records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry, it appears that Heavy Stuff registered its claims on 19 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.
Olebile was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006 whereas from records at the Mining Commissioner’s registry, it appears Olebile registered its claims on 10 April 2006.
Mpofu said this constituted a breach of the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act.
"Section 20 of the Act provides that only a ‘person’ can be granted a prospecting licence. A person in this context refers to a juristic person, so constituted by the act of incorporation or a natural person. At the time of the purported issue of Certificates of Registration, there was no ‘person’ to whom such certificates could be granted," he said.
Mpofu added: "More importantly, Section 61 of the Act provides that every company holding mining rights shall at the time of the registration of the rights, register the name of an accredited agent with the Mining Commissioner.
"If, therefore, the ACR subsidiaries were non existent at the time of the cancellation, they could not have complied with the necessary requirements of the Act, and to the extent that they purport to have complied with the Act, they misrepresented to the Mining Commissioner and the Mining Commissioner acted on that misrepresentation to his prejudice."
Mpofu denied that he had become a party to the disputes saying it was ACR that instituted proceedings against him and that he was forced to defend himself.
He accused ACR of denigrating and vilifying his office and the Government in court proceedings and in various publications across the media around the world.
"It is, in fact, the ACR group which has maliciously circulated the false and misleading reports that I have been instrumental in granting Reclam mining rights over the disputed Marange diamond area.
- Maliciously claimed that I have a relationship with Reclam dating from the time when I served as Minister of Industry and International Trade.
- That I have had personal financial benefit from that relationship, I deny all the allegations relating to bias, specifically, I deny any alleged bias relating to my alleged association with Reclam at Zisco," Mpofu said.
"I have never had any association with Reclam other than in its capacity as a shareholder of Grandwell Holdings Limited, which is, in turn, a shareholder of Mbada Diamonds (Pvt) Ltd. It is common cause that Reclam’s association with Zisco started in the 1990s while I only became a minister in 2005," he added.
Mpofu said all actions by his office were in the national interest adding: "I cannot, and do not have direct or personal interest in this dispute."
He said the onus was on ACR to make valid and founded allegations and to substantiate them by producing cogent proof.
The minister said ACR’s contention of bias in its notice of appeal was without merit.
"I consequently decline to recuse myself," he said.
On Tuesday, Mr Musukutwa wrote to ACR notifying it of the cancellations of its Certificates of Registration by Mpofu.
"As a consequence of my aforesaid cancellation of the Certificates of Registration, the relevant Mining Commissioners shall post upon their respective notice boards a notice giving particulars of the cancellations. The particulars of these cancellations shall be published in the Government Gazette and a newspaper circulating in the relevant mining districts," he said.
ACR boss fears arrest
Meanwhile, ACR boss Mr Andrew Cranswick is currently out of the country on business and is afraid he will be arrested on his return.
The application was filed on Monday and is related to charges stemming from Cranswick’s alleged illegal acquisition of diamonds, including 129 000 carats recovered from the company in 2007.
Cranswick was once arrested over this issue but the Attorney-General declined prosecution pending determination of a wrangle over ownership of the gems.
The 129 000 carats of diamonds are currently kept by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as per a Supreme Court order.
Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, INVESTMENT LICENSES
Read more...
