LUANDA – Diamond-rich Angola plans to more than double its annual output to 15,000 carats from the current level of 6 000 carats, the spokesman of the national diamond company Endiama said Friday.
“We plan to increase our annual production to 15 000 carats. From now until December 2005 we aim to produce 10 000 carats,” Sebastiao Panzo said.Panzo said the new climate of peace in Angola, which is emerging from a brutal 27-year civil war, and the measures taken to combat illegal mining and trade had paid rich dividends.The government says that of around 290 000 diamond traffickers in the country, 90 000 are foreigners, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.Panzo said there could be many more as “hardly 40 per cent of Angola’s geological potential had been studied and this dates to the time of the Diamang, the former diamond mining company created in 1917.”He said Angola had about 90 new diamond concessions ready to be exploited in the provinces of Luanda North and Luanda South.In 2003, the government set up the Company for the Commercialisation of Angolan Diamonds (SODIAM), which has to certify origin and is the sole window through which the stones can be exported, mainly to Israel, Belgium and the United States.- Nampa-AFPFrom now until December 2005 we aim to produce 10 000 carats,” Sebastiao Panzo said.Panzo said the new climate of peace in Angola, which is emerging from a brutal 27-year civil war, and the measures taken to combat illegal mining and trade had paid rich dividends.The government says that of around 290 000 diamond traffickers in the country, 90 000 are foreigners, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.Panzo said there could be many more as “hardly 40 per cent of Angola’s geological potential had been studied and this dates to the time of the Diamang, the former diamond mining company created in 1917.”He said Angola had about 90 new diamond concessions ready to be exploited in the provinces of Luanda North and Luanda South.In 2003, the government set up the Company for the Commercialisation of Angolan Diamonds (SODIAM), which has to certify origin and is the sole window through which the stones can be exported, mainly to Israel, Belgium and the United States.- Nampa-AFP
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