Endiama and Gemcorp Pilot New Mine in Angola
February 17, 21
(IDEX Online) - Angola's state-owned diamond company is partnering with the investment group Gemcorp to develop a pilot mining program in the remote north-east of the country.
Endiama hopes the Mulepe diamond deposit, in Lunda Norte, will help Angola to become one of the world's top-three diamond producers.
The site contains significant untapped kimberlite and alluvial deposits. Initial estimates are that it will process three million tons of kimberlite annually.
Angola, currently the world's sixth biggest diamond producer, brought in trading reforms in 2018 that allowed 120 companies to buy stock previously available to just eight "preferential customers".
It 9.086m carats in 2019 for an estimated value of US$1.263 billion and aims to open its own bourse by the end of this year.
Ganga Júnior, president of Endiama (pictured), said: "We believe that this partnership constitutes another important step towards diversifying the Angolan diamond sector across the entire value chain.
"We are pleased to be working with Gemcorp on what will be its first diamond exploration activity in the country - it is a project that will certainly contribute to the development of Angola, representing a strong sign of the opening of the sector to foreign direct investment."