[2019-09-26] Angola considers the creation of diamond exchange

Source: Macauhub

Angola’s diamond trading company Sodiam will be replaced by a diamond exchange whose operating model is still being considered, said the Minister of Mineral Resources and Oil.

Sodiam is currently responsible for the purchase and sale of all semi-industrial and artisanal diamonds and 60% of diamonds produced in the industrial circuit.

The ongoing restructuring of the mineral resources sub-sector also includes the closure of Angolan national iron company Ferrangol and its transformation into the National Mineral Resources Agency as well as the partial privatisation of the national diamond prospecting, exploration, cutting and trading company, Endiama.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Oil, Diamantino de Azevedo, who did not name a date for the creation of the diamond exchange, said the idea is simply to apply trading practices already used in other countries.

“We are studying the models used by other countries and we think that in the future we may have a diamond exchange in Angola,” the official said during the inauguration of the third diamond cutting factory in Luanda.

The Dubai stock exchange is one of the models to follow for the introduction of the diamond exchange in Angola, and this week Angolan officials have been observing how it operates, according to the Angolan newspaper Expansão.