Angola will soon emerge as an important diamond mining centre. The newly discovered Luaxe Diamond Deposit will start mining sometime in the middle of the next year. It is estimated that country will produce one million carats of diamonds worth US$90 million next year according to Alrosia-Diamond Producer.
Catoca and Alrosa – Angola’s state controlled diamond miner discovered Luaxe’s Luele belt in 2013. Catoca had spent US$200 million in conducting the feasibility studies and found that the belt may turn out to be the largest discovery in the industry in sixty-years. Luaxe’s ore is estimated to contain 45,000 carats of diamonds. However, further studies are being conducted to assess the exact quantum and purity of the diamonds. The mining of the diamonds will be pegged to project’s viability and global demand.
Global diamond production will likely to fall to 139 million carats in 2023 from a record of 151million in 2017. Alrosa is the world’s largest diamond producer by volume and is in neck to neck fight with De Beers to emerge as the largest by revenue.
