Marange to buy diamonds directly from the miners. Scores of homes in the district have been rented to foreign nationals with connections to diamond mining.28 As early as September 2006 Zimbabwe authorities had acknowledged that the smuggling of Marange diamonds had become a serious problem. Soon after, the Ministry of Mines directed the MMCZ to “mop up all diamonds in Marange and reduce the quantity of diamonds that were illegally leaving the country.”29 From October 2006 the MMCZ moved into Marange and began trying to purchase diamonds from illegal, unlicensed local miners.30 But MMCZ officials only added to the number of middlemen operating. They paid out token cash sums as incentives to get miners to hand in stones that they had extracted and to stop them from trading with foreigners or smuggling the gems.31 But the MMCZ offered prices that were far below market value and much lower than those offered by foreign smugglers, so their interventions failed to halt smuggling and illicit trading.32 Although geologists have not yet scientifically estimated the value of the Marange diamond fields, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, on various occasions has estimated that, if properly managed, Marange diamonds have the potential to earn the government US$1.2 billion per year in revenue.33 Laws Governing the Diamond Industry in Zimbabwe and Applicable International Standards Zimbabwe’s Mines and Minerals Act, 1961 (Chapter 21:05), colonial-era legislation that has been amended and remains in effect today, vests all the country’s mining and mineral rights in the president and prescribes ways by which such rights can be acquired by individuals and corporate entities. The act provides that any person may apply for a prospecting license, “Exclusive Prospecting Order” (EPO), with any mining commissioner. The prospecting license or EPO grants the holder the rights to prospect and search for any minerals on land open to prospecting, but not to remove or dispose of any minerals discovered.34 A holder of a 28 Human Rights Watch interview with villager J.M., Marange, February 20, 2009. 29 Affidavit of Simangaliso Makoni, non-metals marketing executive at MMCZ, ACR and others v. Minister of Mines and Mining Development, MMCZ, ZMDC and others, HC 1390/2007, on file with Human Rights Watch. 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 “Turning our difficulties into opportunities,” Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Monetary Policy Statement issued by Dr. Gideon Gono, January 2009, http://www.kubatana.net/docs/econ/rbz_monetary_policy_jan09_07202.pdf (accessed April 4, 2009). 34 Mines and Minerals Act, 1961 (Chapter 21:05), sec. 27. Diamonds in the Rough 16