[2019-10-25] Angola plans to produce 14 million carats of diamonds by 2022

Source: Macauhub

Angola is expected to be producing 14 million carats of diamonds by 2022 as a result of the start of exploration of the Luaxe mine in Lunda Sul province, the president of Angola’s national diamond company, Endiama said on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia.

Ganga Júnior, on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Economic Forum, said the process of building the facilities required to extract and process the diamonds there would be accelerated because it was a strategic kimberlite, initially requiring an estimated investment of between US$250 million and US$300 million.

With an estimated reserve of 350 million carats, the kimberlite, discovered in 2009 after a geological prospecting and geophysical survey of the region began in 2008, occupies an area of 100 hectares and is expected to reach a depth of 400 metres.

The president of Endiama said that production at the Luaxe mine will be developed in phases to achieve a processing capacity similar to that of the Catoca mine, which currently produces almost 10 million tonnes a year.

Endiama is one of the leading companies in Angola that is part of the recently approved Government Privatisation Programme, and its partial sale to private companies is scheduled for 2022.