Guyana has been commended several times for its adherence to diamond certifying and exporting rules and nothing was encountered that raised any suspicions about the origin of any of the gems, a senior mining official has said.
Kampta Persaud, Manager of the Geological Services Division of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) said he was surprised to see an article which reported that diamonds from Zimbabwe were being smuggled here. An article in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper reported that diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa field are being smuggled as far as Sierra Leone and Guyana. This was contained in a recent public publication from Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), an Ottawa, Canada-based group fighting for the eradication of “blood diamonds” around the world.
“In 2009, Zimbabwean industrial diamonds, easily identified by their size and colour, showed up as far afield as Guyana and Sierra Leone,” the agency said in its report titled “Other Facets” released last week. It added that neither country reported this to the Kimberley Process – the industry’s watchdog. “If low-value diamonds like these travel that far and that easily in search of a laundry, it is clear than high value goods have even greater range and speed,” it said.
Contacted yesterday, Persaud said he had just returned from a meeting in Brazil where the Kimberley Process (KP) was the subject of discussion. Both countries are signatories to the KP, a regulatory system backed by the United Nations which seeks to track the international production and movement of diamonds. The Process stipulates that freshly mined diamonds should be sealed in registered containers that certify their country of origin and that diamond exporters do not accept unregistered gems that might profit insurgents or criminals. The Process evolved out of international concern over the role that diamonds have played in sustaining guerilla and terrorist operations in various parts of the world, notably in conflict ridden regions of Liberia, the Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone.
Persaud said that while in Brazil, he spoke with an official from PAC, who mentioned the improvements seen in Guyana over the years and who held up Guyana’s “very good” system though noting there were a few cracks. According to him, the only concern expressed was the fact that Venezuela was not certified to export diamonds under the Process and it was opined that the gems produced there are sent elsewhere. Persaud said that at no time, did the official mention anything about African diamonds coming to Guyana.
Under the KP exporting rules, all diamonds have to be examined by the GGMC before being exported and Persaud said that most of the diamonds he had seen are what he “could reasonably say are Guyanese diamonds”. He explained that while it is difficult to say where a diamond originated, when the gem is profiled it could be reasonably identified as being produced here. There are differences, he said, between diamonds found in what are called “pipes” and alluvial diamonds.
He pointed to the generally held opinion that the Zimbabwean stones are generally of a poorer quality than Guyana’s and said he has not seen anything that would lead him to believe that such diamonds are coming here.
He also questioned the economic logic, pointing out that smuggling is risky and the cost to get here is high. Looking at the circumstantial evidence, Persaud said, he did not see why persons would want to bring the diamonds here. He pointed out that there are large producers among Zimbabwe’s neighbours and Zimbabwe is certified to export diamonds. The PAC report had noted that Zimbabwe exhibits a wide variety of serious problems in relation to diamonds.
Persaud noted that producers here are required to be licensed, have production books to record among other data, where the diamond is found and how many carats it is. A district mines officer then has to check and sign the records. When the gems are brought to the city, usually by middlemen, the dealers have to ensure that royalties have been paid and take the diamonds along with genuine documents to the GGMC for inspection before they are exported. If there are any suspicions, Persaud said, GGMC would send geologists to inspect the area where the diamonds are mined. In the presence of officials, the diamonds are sealed and certified and the package cannot be opened until it has reached its final destination.
Persaud declared that with limited resources, the GGMC is doing its best and the PAC has recognized this. He said that they had never been told about smuggled Zimbabwean diamonds and from inspecting the gems, he had never seen anything that raised suspicions.
In its report, PAC had accused the KP of turning a blind eye to the illegal activities taking place in Zimbabwe and other diamond-producing or importing countries. In particular, it said, the Process was not doing anything to stem a thriving illegal diamond market that has emerged in Mozambique’s Manica town which is supplied with the precious mineral smuggled out of Zimbabwe by army and government officials.
Meantime, among several current unresolved issues in the Process, the agency pointed out that Venezuela agreed to halt all diamond exports a year ago, even though it had not officially exported any diamonds since 2005. Since then, however, it has renewed diamond mining licenses, and easily verifiable diamond sales and smuggling continue to operate with impunity on the Brazilian border, the report said. “By ignoring this, the Kimberley Process effectively condones diamond smuggling. So do Venezuela’s neighbours, Brazil and Guyana,” it asserted. Several years ago when local diamond declarations were extremely high, it was believed that diamonds from Venezuela were making their way into Guyana.
The Kimberley Process was initiated in May 2001 when diamond-producing countries in Southern Africa met in Kimberley, South Africa in May 2000 to discuss ways of stopping the trade in “conflict diamonds” and ensuring that diamond purchases were not funding violence. The Seventh Annual Plenary Meeting of the KP is scheduled for Namibia next week.
