The Sociedade Mineira da Catoca (Catoca Ltd), a joint venture Angolan mining company has announced plans to invest US$ 330 million for the development of the proposed Luaxe mine. The investment will be made over a period of three years; and the first work to be undertaken will be the collection of large samples.  

Catoca Ltd is one of the premier companies in Angola, which began with mining the Catoca kimberlite in Luanda Province.

Currently, the Catoca Ltd. Mining Co. is owed by Angola’s state diamond miner ENDIAMA E.P. (32.8%); Russia’s ALROSA (32.8%); LL International Holding B.V. (owned by China’s SONAGOL International Holding Ltd.) (18.0%); and Brazil’s Odebrecht Mining Services Inc. (16.4%).

Catoca’s Director General Benedito Paulo, who is reported to have made the announcement, also said that work is scheduled to commence in the first half of 2019.The plan is to undertake sampling; carry out an analysis of the sample collected to arrive at pricing; on the basis of which the economic and financial viability of the project and the mine will be determined.

Paulo also stated that the Company had already invested about US$ 114.4 million in Luaxe, since the start of geological prospecting.

Macauhub added that the Director General also reported the main highlights of his Company’s financial performance: Catoca posted a turnover of more than US$ 700 million in 2018; paid taxes to the Government amounting US$ 217 million (2017: US$198 million); the company extracted 8.415 million carats of diamonds, which were sold at an average price per carat of US$ 110, up from US$ 89 per carat in 2017.

The proposed Luaxe mine is situated at a distance of some 25 kilometres from Catoca.