Zim Government to Investigate Rio Tinto Share Disposal

(IDEX Online News) – The Zimbabwean government is conducting an investigation into Rio Tinto’s sale of its two holdings in the country in June, 2015, according to a report in The Herald.

In the sale, the company sold its 78-percent interest in Murowa Diamonds and its 50 percent interest in Sengwa Colliery Ltd (Sengwa). RioZim Limited, an independent Zimbabwean mining company listed on the Zimbabwean Stock Exchange, which at the time of sale held a 22-percent interest in Murowa Diamonds and a 50-percent interest in Sengwa, assumed the overall management of both entities.

During a question and answer session in the National Assembly, mines and mining development deputy minister Fred Moyo, said that the government was seeking clarity on how the transaction was carried out.

The move comes at a time of heightened confusion about the state of Zimbabwe’s diamond mining industry, with claims and counter claims of governmental mismanagement and avaricious mining companies, particularly in the Chiadzwa region.