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Chinese-Zimbabwe diamond firm takes forced eviction case to court

Xinhua, March 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Chinese-Zimbabwean joint venture mining diamond in eastern Zimbabwe has challenged in court its forced eviction from the Marange diamond fields last week.

In the application filed to the High Court and seen by media Friday, Anjin Investment Co. Ltd is arguing that the eviction was a breach of shareholders' rights and the police did not follow due process.

The shareholders' rights are protected in terms of the agreement on the encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments between the governments of Zimbabwe and China, it said.

Anjin is a joint venture between China's Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company and state firm the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. It started mining diamonds in Marange in 2010.

Anjin is one of the six companies, mostly joint ventures, ordered by the government on Feb. 22 to halt operations and given 90 days to remove their equipment and valuables.

The government says it wants to consolidate diamond operations in Marange and form one entity, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company, to improve efficiency and transparency.

Anjin becomes the second company to take action against government after Mbada Diamonds, in which South Africa's investors holds 50 percent of the stake, on Monday sued government at the High Court and was allowed to take control of its mining assets.

In his traditional birthday interview aired on state television Thursday night, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said his government had not received meaningful returns from Marange diamond fields.

He said less than 2 billion U.S . dollars was remitted from diamonds proceeds out of the more than 15 billion U.S. dollars that government thinks was earned from the diamonds.

The forced evictions come at a time when Zimbabwe's diamond production has plumeted from 12 million carats in 2012 to just over 3 million carats in 2015, according to industry figures.

The miners have been citing dwindling alluvial diamond deposits for the low production. Endit