The Angolan Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum has announced that the public bidding process for five minerals concessions, being offered to local and international investors, will be opened on October 7. Previously, it had been expected that the bidding period would run from September 30 and October 2. The short delay is to accommodate an extension to the roadshow currently being undertaken to generate interest in the concessions on offer.

Previously, the roadshow was to have ended on September 20 with a final presentation in London. Now, it will end on September 30, with the final presentation to be in New York. (The other roadshow presentations were in Luanda on August 27 and Dubai on September 10, with Beijing to follow on September 16.) The presentations can be attended by national and international companies, chambers of commerce and industry, banks, professional associations, embassies and other entities interested in the mineral resources that are to be concessioned.

According to Mineral Resources and Petroleum Minister Diamantino Azevedo, the purpose of the roadshow and the public bidding process is to attract foreign investment and guarantee greater transparency in the management of the country’s economy. The five concessions comprise one iron-ore concession in Cuanza Norte province, two phosphate concessions in Cabinda and Zaire provinces, and two diamond concessions in Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul provinces.

Angola now has three diamond polishing facilities. The latest, named Pedra Rubra (which literally translates as ‘Red Stone’) was officially opened at the beginning of the month by Azevedo. Located in the Maianga area of Luanda, the new factory joins Stone Polished Diamond (which opened in February) and Angola Polished Diamond. Both these factories are located in Talatona, a satellite town of Luanda, immediately adjacent to the capital.

The Pedra Rubra factory represents a $5-million investment and has the capacity to process five-thousand carats a month. The proprietor, Hélder Milagre, told Angolan press agency Angop that the company also owned five jewellery shops in Luanda and hoped to produce, in the near future, jewellery in sufficient quantities to satisfy the demand of the domestic market.

Milagre also stated that he still had to ask the commercial banks for permission to buy foreign exchange, given that rough diamonds had to be bought using foreign currency, while jewellery sales in Angola were carried out in local currency (kwanzas). In his address at the opening of the factory, Azevedo promised to give attention to Milagre’s concerns.

“We are fulfilling one of the recommendations of government, which is to look at the production and domestic commercialisation and transformation of diamonds,” said the Minister in his speech. He also referred to the reform process in the country’s mining sector. “[W]e will have a model similar to what we have in [the] petroleum [sector],” he highlighted.