Speaking in Lisbon, Portugal, early this month, Angolan Natural Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo stated that his country’s State-owned diamond group, Endiama, was going to be partially privatised and have some of its equity listed on the exchange. He was speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa. (Endiama is an acronym for 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.)
The Minister noted that the role of his Ministry and of the State-owned mining companies was being reformulated. This involved the creation of a mineral resources agency, which would serve as the concessionary and the regulator for the sector. This would relieve Endiama of its concessionary functions (for the diamond sector) and allow some of its shares to be sold on the stock exchange.
He highlighted that the strategy for the minerals sector was closely following the strategy already adopted for Angola’s oil and gas sector. The country’s State-owned national oil company, Sonangol (another acronym, for Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, or National Fuels Company of Angola) was selling its nonstrategic assets and would sell a minority of its equity on the stock exchange at the start of the next decade.
“It’s the same logic, [and] we are now developing the strategy for its execution,” said Azevedo. “[T]he future Natural Resources Agency will benefit from all the experience and assets of the State company, which takes care of the metallic and precious mineral resources.”
Separately, pig iron production at two municipalities in the interior of Angola will significantly boost the revenues for Moçâmedes Railway (Portuguese abbreviation: CFM). The projects are at Cutato, in Cuando Cubango province, and at Jamba, in Huíla. The Cutato project has been delayed by various difficulties but entered its final construction phase in May last year. The decision to relaunch the Jamba project was taken in 2016.
Bringing both these projects into operation should increase CFM’s annual revenues from the current 700-million kwanzas to 1-billion kwanzas, reported the railway's financial director, António Conceição, to Angolan news agency Angop. CFM extends for 905 km, through the provinces of Namibe, Huíla and Cuando Cubango.