Africans Consolidated Resources (ACR) says it is willing to consider an out-of-court settlement which could end the bitter ownership battle over Marange diamonds.

According to All Africa, in a letter to Finance Minister Tendai Biti, the diamond miner asked the minister to broker such a deal, citing animosity and mistrust between itself and other parties in the dispute, who include Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu.

Biti was the first to suggest an out of court settlement, which he said would be a "win-win situation" for both ACR and the government.

The Marange diamonds title dispute is currently pending a Supreme Court ruling, after the government appealed a previous ruling granting ACR ownership of the title.

In the letter, ACR restated its position that at law and as a matter of fact, the diamonds belonged to it, but it was now open to a partnership with government - a position it said it has held since 2006. Besides a partnership, the company said it remains open to "any other reasonable proposal to resolve matters amicably.

"Unfortunately, there is animosity and mistrust between parties at present and accordingly we would welcome a pro-active role from your office to bring the parties to a negotiating table, on an entirely without prejudice basis," wrote Andrew Cranswick, the chief executive officer of ACR.

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, were copied to the appeal: "Whilst we remain confident that the law and the facts are clearly supportive of our position, we appreciate that this is a matter of national importance, which must be resolved, preferably by acceptable compromise," added Cranswick.

ACR has previously stated that it supports the sale of the diamonds on condition that the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme criterion is met and that 100% of gross revenue from the mine is received by the fiscus.