Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's ruling coalition voted last week to nationalize all the country's rich alluvial diamond deposits, Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said last week.

Currently, the government owns 50% of all the diamond companies that are operating in the Marange diamond fields in northern Zimbabwe. Under Zimbabwe's Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, passed in 2007, foreign companies mining in Zimbabwe valued at over $500,000 are required to sell at least 51% of their shares to black Zimbabweans.

Kasukuwere said that the new regulations would not affect companies that were already in compliance with the law.

According to Kasukuwere, communities surrounding the diamond fields would receive 10% of the gross profits realized from mining in their area, which will go toward health, education, and infrastructure projects.