India eyes diamond mining ventures abroad

It is the diamond in Africa and Russia that is dazzling India these days. India is planning joint ventures with diamond mining companies across Russia, Africa and the CIS nations.

The plan, chalked out by public sector undertakings the Mineral and Metal Trading Corporation and National Minerals Development Corporation is to source rough diamonds directly from those countries.

Minister of State for Industry and Commerce Jairam Ramesh told reporters that India is focusing on Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan only for gold mines, where we are assured of getting a priority.

"We are also looking for joint venture opportunities in diamond mines of Angola, South Africa and other African countries in addition to Russia," the minister said.

Rough diamonds are now currently imported to India through Antwerp, a major global diamond trading hub in Belgium. But this is adding to the imports costs by around 11 per cent.

Currently, Diamond Trading Company supplies about 25 per cent of rough diamonds to India through its 38

siteholders. Unlike Antwerp, which is mainly a trading centre, India is one of the few processing hubs and it makes business sense for miners to supply diamonds directly to the processing zones.

MMTC officials said the direct sourcing will enable the diamond industry in India to save about $1 billion from the total import cost of around $9 billion.

Already, India managed to reach an agreement with Alrosa mine in Russia, which led to direct rough diamond imports of $15 million in the last financial year. The Russian breakthrough came after a series of meetings between the governments of the two countries.

Also, later this month, MMTC and NDMC are submitting a proposal to the government to explore jointly gold mines in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

India processed about 58 per cent (worth $10.84 billion) of the world's polished diamonds (worth $18.72 billion) in 2006.