MINES minister Obert Mpofu has disclosed that preliminary studies by the government have pointed to the existence of large deposits of diamonds in three of the country’s districts.

Mpofu said the government was in the process of setting up a body to speed up exploration activities to determine the extent of the deposits.

The state-run Sunday Mail newspaper quoted Mpofu saying diamonds deposits had been found in Binga as well as in Masvingo along the highway to South Africa and Tsholotsho in the west of the country.

He said his ministry was in the process of short-listing candidates to head the proposed Zimbabwe Minerals Explorations Corporation (ZMEC), a company that would help the government to determine the entire mineral wealth of the country.

The discovery of diamonds in the three districts is expected to turn Zimbabwe into one of the world’s largest producers of the mineral.

Industry experts say the southern African country already has the capacity to produce more than 25 percent of the world’s total diamond output from its three existing mines.

The most popular is the controversial Marange fields located close to the border with Mozambique where the army has been accused of human rights abuses.