The Geological Institute of Angola (abbreviated to IGA in Portuguese) is to oversee a major survey programme over the next five years, intended to greatly increase knowledge about the country’s mineral resources. The programme will cost more than 40-billion kwanzas (about $410-million), Angolan news agency Angop reported, and forms part of the country’s National Geology and Mines Plan.

Currently, it is estimated that there is infor-mation about only 40% of the country’s geology. IGA director-general Makenda Ambrosie describes this as “incipient knowl-edge” that has led to the “unsatisfactory exploitation of the few known reserves”. Pre-liminary results are expected within two years.

While the IGA will manage the programme, it will be executed by three foreign companies – one Brazilian, one Chinese and one Spanish. According to Amrosie, Angolan countries suffer a “lack of technical capacity” to carry out the work. “Angolan companies will be visible, providing complementary services. For this work, some companies bid, but they did not meet the required conditions.”

Each of the three companies awarded the work has been assigned a different region of the country to survey. The Brazilian enterprise, Costa Negócios, is responsible for the eastern region. The Chinese company, Citic, will cover the north and the Spanish company, Impulso, the south. Each company will be responsible for the organisation of its own logistics. Each is expected to spend more than one-billion kwanzas (about $10.25-million) over the next five years.

The National Geology and MInes Plan also involves the restructuring of, and capacity-building in, the IGA, including the establishment of three laboratories. The Angolan government has contracted a company to undertake the economic, institutional, operational and technological capacitation of the IGA.

Separately, earlier this month, Angolan mining company Sociedade Mineira de Catoca (Catoca) reported that it was going to start exploring for diamonds in Zimbabwe next year. This follows the signing of a bilateral mining cooperation agreement by Angolan Mines and Geology Minister Francisco Queiroz and Zimbabwe Mining and Mineral Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa on October 28. The pact covers economic cooper- ation in the mining sector, including explora-tion, prospecting, research, technical and tech- nological support and permits Angolan com-panies to invest in Zimbabwe. This agreement thus provides safeguards for Catoca’s oper-ations and investments in Zimbabwe.

“In terms of the selected areas, we intend to work in the area of the Limpopo basin and the Marange zone, particularly in the frontier zone between Zimbabwe and Mozambique,” Catoca CEO José Ganga Júnior told Angop. “These are the areas of most interest to Catoca, initially, within our process of internationalisation.”

The Limpopo basin encompasses some 415 000 km2, but this figure covers Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique, as well as Zimbabwe, and it is not yet known where Catoca will focus its efforts. As for Marange, its diamond fields have been described as one of the biggest diamondiferous discoveries in recent times. They could provide a significant stimulus to the Zimbabwe economy.

Regarding the scale of the investments that his company would make in Zimbabwe, Ganga Júnior noted that it was too early to give any estimates. Firstly, Catoca would have to award an exploration contract and, thereafter, develop an action plan that would start with prospecting operations.

Catoca’s internationalisation programme forms part of its plan to increase its diamond operations beyond its current exploitation of the Catoca kimberlite. This plan includes exploration in Angola, and Catoca is cur-rently active on seven concessions in its home country. It is financing this exploration pro-gramme from its own resources. Catoca is owned by four groups – Angolan State dia- mond group Endiama (32.8%), Russian diamond miner Alrosa (also 32.8%), Israel’s Daumonty (18%) and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht (16.4%).