Semi-industrial and artisanal diamond mining cooperatives in Angola will lose their mining licences if they remain inactive for more than six months, Geology and Mines State Secretary Jânio Correia Victor warned recently. He was speaking in Luanda at the First Meeting on Semi-Industrial Diamond Operations in Angola.

“The withdrawal of licences is the solution, if they do not heed the decisions issued by the Ministry,” he said. He noted: “After the transfer of the licences which allow them to exploit diamonds, the cooperatives have three months to organise and six months to initiate their activities.”

The warning was reiterated, at the same event, by a senior official of State-owned Endiama (an acronym for the Empresa Nacional de Prospecção , Exploração, Lapidação e Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola – in English, the National Company for the Prospecting, Mining, Polishing and Commercialisation of Diamonds of Angola). Endiama geology and minerals development administrator Ana Feijó also presented a report on ‘The Development of Artisanal and Semi-Industrial Mining’ to the meeting.

The report recommended that the cooperatives be established in the licence areas within a period of six months, including the issuing of (not the application for) the mining licence. The cooperatives would be obliged to submit monthly reports of their activities to the Semi-Industrial Mining Office, as well as adopt methods to eradicate illegal mining and diamond trafficking. Failure to comply would lead to the mining licence being withdrawn.

Between February and March, diamond cooperatives in Angola produced 24 766 ct. These were sold at an average price of $64.22 for total revenues of $1.7-million.

Meanwhile, and separately, the Empresa Nacional de Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola (National Diamond Sales Company of Angola), better known as Sodiam, has announced it will auction five lots of diamonds on December 6. Interested parties have until December 5 to register on the State-owned company’s relevant web page (https://sodiamsales.com/en/login).

The auction includes a single diamond of 183.55 ct, found by the Cuango Mining Company. A second lot comprises two stones, totalling 110.21 ct, from the Catoca Mining Company. A third lot comprises seven ‘special’ diamonds, totalling 210.66 ct, also from Catoca. The final two lots total 127.691 ct and 127. 692 ct; they, too, are from Catoca.

Bidding is open to both Angolan and foreign entities. As of the second last week of November, 105 companies had registered on the site. The foreign enterprises hail from Belgium, Dubai, India, Israel and South Africa.

The bids will be opened and analysed on December 6, the Angolan news agency, Angop, has reported. The winners will be announced on December 7.

This is the second such auction of special diamonds held by Sodiam. The first saw the sale of seven of the precious stones, from the Lulo Mining Company. This auction brought in revenues of $16.7- million.

Last year, Angola’s total diamond production came to 9.43-million carats, which brought in revenues of $1.2-billion.