Angola Aims to Broaden Its Diamond Trade

RAPAPORT… Angola is looking to expand its diamond operations, and
hopes to create businesses across all points of the sector, including manufacturing
and jewelry.



The country recently inaugurated its third diamond-cutting
and production factory, Pedra Rubra, which will also manufacture jewelry for
its five stores in Luanda. The facility, which cost $5 million to build, will
process 5,000 carats of rough per month, the Ministry of Minerals and Oil said
Monday. Stone Polished Diamond opened in February, while Angola Polished
Diamond launched in 2015.


“We want Angola to be across the entire diamond chain,” said
Pedra Rubra owner Hélder Milagre. “The philosophy is to cut and produce
jewelry, this time selling finished pieces.”


The government has also recently opened the sector to
private investment, in an effort to grow its industry.


“We…are looking at the production, marketing and internal
processing of diamonds,” Diamantino Azevedo, minister of mineral resources and
oil, explained on the ministry’s Facebook page. “We are building a development
hub in Lunda Sul, and it is our wish that companies wishing to invest in the
diamond segment will bet on that, which, in principle, should be inaugurated
next year.”


The ministry is also considering creating an Angolan diamond
exchange, Azevedo noted.

Image: Angola minister of minerals and oil Diamantino Azevedo. (Angola Ministry of Minerals and Oil/Facebook)