MUTARE, Zimbabwe - Anjin Investments is now the biggest diamond producer in the world with only one and a half years of mining in eastern Zimbabwe, an official said on Wednesday.

The company's director Munyaradzi Machacha told reporters on a tour of the mine that it now has a capacity of  producing 12,000 tons of ore per day and had invested heavily in state-of-the-art machinery.

On Thursday this week the company is set to commission two additional processing units acquired at a total cost of $18 million to the current five that are operational.

The new units would boost the company's processing capacity which it hopes will continue to grow in the future.

"We are now the largest diamond mining company in the world and the Kimberly Process has confirmed that and we are proud of that," Machacha said, adding the company was poised to play a significant role in the development of Zimbabwe.

Machacha said the company was also big in terms of the share size, the amount of ore it is capable of producing, as well as the massive production and processing machinery it has on site.

Anjin is a 50/50 joint venture between the government-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company Limited of China.

The company started mining operations in July last year, and has a stockpile of 3 million carats of diamonds that it intends to sell after getting KP approval recently.

Anjin conducted its first sale of diamonds last week and Machacha said marketing of the gems was in progress.

He said the mine was currently producing 6,000 tons of ore from its 4,846-hectare concession.

Mine manager Hu Shijie said the company had one of the most advanced diamond processing machinery among the four companies that are mining diamonds in Marange. And the two new units have a combined processing capacity of 4,000 per day.

Meanwhile, Machacha said companies mining diamonds in Zimbabwe do not deserve to be slapped with Western sanctions as they are operating above board.

His comments followed this week's move by the United States to slap Mbada and Marange Resources -- two of the four companies mining diamonds in Marange -- with sanctions.

"Zimbabwe does not deserve sanctions nor any of the companies that have been placed on sanctions," he said.