The diamond sector in Angola will be reorganised in a similar way to the oil sector, with the privatisation of state-owned companies and the creation of a regulatory entity, said the Minister of Mineral Resources and Oil.

Diamantino Azevedo also said that the government will begin a process of transformation of the state diamond mining and polishing company Endiama and diamond trading company Sodiam, “which will cease to be concessionaires and become operators.”

The minister, speaking at a conference on the reorganisation of the oil and gas sector, said that those two companies will be “floated” with the possibility that one of them, whose identity has not disclosed, “will be almost entirely privatised.”

Azevedo noted that the government had gained experience with the reform of the oil sector, and was “now going to focus on the diamond sector, which has already started with the new sales policy,” according to the Angop news agency.

Endiama was founded on 15 January, 1981 as the national concessionaire for diamond mining rights and Sodiam is focused on buying and selling Angolan diamond production. (Macauhub)