Reporting from Africa.

Global Witness announced Sunday that they are quitting any participation in the Kimberley Process certification program due the ongoing sale of diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe is accused of human rights abuses. While many countries come under scrutiny at de Hague court Zimbabwean leaders seem to constantly escape their fate of international prosecution. Roughly four times as much people have died in these regions over the last 25 years in comparison with Iraqi under Saddam Hussein’s rule ?

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De Beers has no intention of reducing its interests in South Africa and will raise planned investment in its new Venetia underground mine by more than $600 million to $1.9 billion, according to a report in BusinessDay.  The Venetia expansion comes after the company last week signed a new $2 billion multi-currency credit facility.  Sources raised the possibility of dept crises that might occur as result of such credit facility that is not the first of its kind.

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De Beers has announced that it signed a new $2 billion multicurrency credit facility. The miner said that $800 million of the sum will be used for a term loan maturing in March 2015, and $1.2 billion for a revolving credit facility maturing in October 2016.

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The Kimberley Process, gathering at its 2011 Plenary Meeting in the DRC capital of Kinshasa, ratified an agreement this morning that paves the way for the immediate export of rough diamonds from two KP-compliant operations in the Marange region, as well as exports from other mining operations in the area following the KP Monitoring Team’s verification of compliance.

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During 2003 the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was introduced by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 following recommendations in the Fowler Report. The purpose of this “ Scheme ‘ was to eliminate the trade of conflict diamonds, however the definition of the word conflict diamonds were never properly defined. Rapaport, the world’s largest Diamond monopoly stated in an article published in 2009 By Even-Zohar “ The Definition of a conflict diamond is the same as asking an elephant to stop at a red light”

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Three economists appointed by the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, to research the desirability of state involvement in the mining industry will complete their assignment next month.

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South Africa’s mining production fell for the third straight month in August, as the country’s output of gold and diamonds declined sharply.  Overall, mining production decreased by 3.4 percent on the year in August after contracting by 5 percent in July.  Gold production, which comprises 17.2 percent of total mining output, fell 19.7 percent year-on-year, despite the rise in the price of gold, while diamond output fell by an even sharper 33.5 percent.

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Synthetic diamond supermaterials group, Element Six Ventures, announced the opening of its new representative office in Silicon Valley, which is located in Santa Clara, California at a planned Element Six production site.  The new site will allow the De Beers subsidiary to broaden its portfolio of early-stage emerging-technology investments in the region. To date, the firm, which specializes in seed to late-stage technology ventures, has invested in seven portfolio companies operating within the clean-tech, semiconductor and electronics sectors.

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A new bill that aims to regulate the mineral industry at point of production and entry into the country will be presented to parliament within the next few months, Baron Baretzky, Chairman of the Certified Authenticated Mineral Specimen (CAMS) Regulator said on Friday. He was conducting a tour of DiaLab Forensic Laboratory for a select group of people. The proposed Mineral Quality Assurance (QA) Regulation Bill aims to ensure the authentication and originality of specimens of crystalline origin such as diamonds, gems and crystals.

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SA Jewellery News recently became aware that Baron Baretzky, chairman of the Certified Authenticated Mineral Specimen Regulator (CAMS) Committee, is attempting to propose a Private Members Bill into Parliament – a Bill which would encompass the DNA testing of all diamonds. In response, Baretzky confirmed that it is partially correct that in the near future a Mineral Quality Assurance Bill would be handed to Parliament. However, for security reasons, he did not wish to divulge whether the Bill would be a Private Members Bill or not. “The Bill will entail a Quality Assurance (QA) regulations Bill for minerals of crystalline origin such as diamonds and gems,” Baretzky explained.

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