[2019-04-30] Angola wants to increase annual diamond production to 14 million carats

Source: Macauhub

The Angolan government intends to increase the country’s annual production of diamonds to 14 million carats, compared to the current 9 million carats, the Secretary of State for Geology and Mines said on Monday in Luanda.

Jânio Correia Victor, who spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of sector statistics for the first quarter of 2019, also said that the market is “stable” and therefore it is possible to achieve this level of production.

Angola’s national diamond trading company, Sodiam made US$368.66 million from the sale of 2.64 million carats in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 31.5%, with an average price per carat of US$139.26, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%.

In the period under review, 94.6% of the diamonds sold came from kimberlites, with the difference made up of production by alluvial diamonds, with the provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul accounting for 93.6% and 6.4% of total diamonds, respectively.