Angola Diamonds: Alrosa holds the upper hand in gems in Dos Santos land

After acquiring a first license in April, 2014, South Africa’s De Beers is currently in talks with Angola’s government and state-owned Endiama to acquire new diamond concessions. While De Beers’ media relations chief Lynette Gould portrays the talks as “encouraging,” the Russian group Alrosa is still powering ahead as leader in diamonds in Angola. The company, headed by Andrey Zharkov, already owns 32.8% of Sociedade Mineira de Catoca and has just signed several contracts with Endiama. The Russians equally plan to invest $1 billion in the Luaxi reserve said to contain 10 million carats, as well as $20 million in exploring the Tchiuzo deposit, with its estimated potential of 2.5 million carats. Lastly, Alrosa and Endiama have just set up a joint venture, Kimangue, which has plans to invest $15 millions in prospecting primary diamond sites in the country. (Source: Africa Intelligence)