Zimbabwe's government is planning to explore for what it thinks could be vast reserves of diamonds in the country's Umkondo Basin, which is in the southeast between Masvingo and Manicaland, the province where Chiadzwa and the Marange diamond fields are located.

Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Fred Moyo recently said on record that the government has already begun mobilizing funds to carry out exploration of the unexplored fields, which stretch over 10,000 square kilometers in the Umkondo Basin, reports Bulawayo 24. He said that his ministry will channel part of its 2014 National Budget allocation to this project to determine which areas may be profitable to mine. The entire basin is reportedly a government-reserved area, which can only be acquired through a special grant. Outside of Chiadzwa, some of the areas in the Umkondo Basin include Bikita and Chimanimani, where diamonds have since been discovered, says the news source.

Currently, a joint-venture company, comprising the Development Trust of Zimbabwe and a Russian firm, which is currently mining diamonds in Chimanimani, is also exploring parts of the basin in the areas surrounding their diamond concession, adds the news source, citing Moyo.

"The Umkondo Basin has a huge potential of diamonds. It is the same area in which the Chiadzwa area as well Chimanimani and Bikita are contained. This alone shows that we might be potentially sitting on huge diamond reserves," added Geological Survey deputy director Forbes Mugumbate, as quoted by Bulawayo 24.