Zimbabwe has a stockpile of more than four million carats of diamonds mined at the Chiadzwa fields between 2006 and last month.The stones could be worth as much as $1.7 billion, according to a report in Zimbabwe’s The Herald newspaper.

The four million carats include the African Consolidated Resources consignment kept at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, those in possession of Mbada Holdings, Canadile Miners and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, the newspaper said, citing documents in its possession.

As at the end of last month, the country’s diamond stockpile stood at 4,580,234,88 carats. The documents also indicates that a Chinese company called Anjin Investment signed an agreement with Marange Resources to establish a third joint venture diamond mining company in Chiadzwa in addition to Mbada and Canadile. In the meanwhile Anjin Investment has started carrying out pre-feasibility studies on site, the newspaper said.