EC plant will help develop production capacity in South Africa.

The highly innovative Matla Diamond Polishing plant located in the East London IDZ will have eight times the production capacity of a manual similar sized operation due to new technologies used.

The Matla Beneficiation Company plant, which has been benchmarked with the world's best plants in both India and China, is fitted with state of the art technology and has all the necessary automation to drive efficiency in one of the most competitive industries in the world.  Matla Beneficiation is one of the projects under Matla Innovation Group.

"While South Africa remains a leading diamond producer, there is very little local polishing of rough stones.  A bulk of these are exported for further polishing in countries such as India and China," said Mcebisi Jonas, MEC for Economic Development and Environmental Affairs in the Eastern Cape.

He added the new Matla Diamond Polishing plant, a first of its kind for the Eastern Cape and a partnership between black owned Matla Innovation Group and its Chinese technical partners , would go a long way in increasing South Africa's competitiveness in the diamond polishing industry.

In 2009 a MSNBC report stated that India spent US$10 per carat in polishing and cutting diamonds, against China's US$17 while South Africa spent between US$60.  With the automated, state of the art plant, the Matla Beneficiation Company is targeting to spend US$ 25 - 40 per carat in the first year with ambitions to match China in the next 5 years.

"This joint venture, together with cutting edge technology, will go a long way in increasing the country's competitiveness in the diamond polishing industry," said Jonas.

The Matla Benefication Company has already brought in technical specialists from China, who will remain with the project for a maximum of three years to ensure skills transfer to the local workforce. 

Group CEO, Mr Chia-Chao Wu, said the company is targeting to train between 150-200 graduates and matriculants as cutters and polishers.  The plant will create 120 skilled job opportunities in the Eastern Cape over the next two years and more than 500 jobs over the next five years.

"This is one of the reasons why we chose the Eastern Cape as the location, it has a lot of qualified young people who are willing to learn but, more importantly, need the specialised skills and the employment," said Wu.  He added that the company was also investigating the possibility of expanding the plant's capabilities to jewellery manufacturing mainly for the African and other emerging markets.