[2019-11-05] Angola has a new diamond cutting company

Source: Macauhub

KGK Angola, a diamond-cutting company with a capacity to process 100,000 gross carats of diamonds per year, was inaugurated on Monday in Luanda, bringing the number of these units in the country to a total of four, the Angolan media reported.

The company is the result of a partnership between Hong Kong-based Indian-funded group KGK with a 65% stake, the Angolan national diamond trading company Sodiam, with 5% and UST, with the remaining 30%, with partners having invested US$5 million to date of the US$25 million investment expected in the first phase.

The factory, inaugurated by the Minister of Mineral and Oil Resources, Diamantino Azevedo, complies with new international cutting standards, and has created 50 jobs for Angolans, which could increase to 200 by the first half of 2020.

The minister welcomed this new investment and, in particular, the interest of the KGK group in the Angolan market and added that the company is an asset in terms of the quality of new projects and partnerships to be developed in the country.

Azevedo recalled that the sub-sector law states that 20% of diamonds mined must be cut in the country, but acknowledged that this percentage is no more 2.0% at the moment.

Following the inauguration of this unit, Angola has four diamond-cutting companies, the remaining three being Angola Polishing Diamonds (APD), Angola Stone Polished Diamond (ASPD) and Pedra Rubra – Fábrica de Joias e Lapidação de Diamantes.