News

February 22, 2008

African Consolidated Resources Perseveres at Perseverance

By Rob Davies

Zimbabwe would not be everyone’s first choice to go exploring these days. But Andrew Cranswick, chief executive of African Consolidated Resources, says the country does offer opportunities, since you can pick up ground very cheaply because of the Zimbabwe discount. There are other advantages to working in Zimbabwe as well, he says. The road network is good giving easy access to most sites, and English is spoken everywhere.

Nevertheless, there are significant downsides and the company is currently in dispute with the government over the ownership of the Marange diamond property. The next stage is take the case to the high court.  Should African Consolidated be successful it intends to proceed with exploitation as soon as possible, but that might not be very soon. Whatever happens at Marange Andrew says he has several other diamond prospects to follow in any event.

As a result of the ongoing threats...