Luanda, Aug. 6, 2024 (Lusa) - Angola currently has 38 gold prospecting projects underway, worth US$120 million, and a refinery under development that should start operating in 2025, a government source has said.
The figures were released on Monday in Luanda by the Angolan minister for mineral resources, oil and gas, during the 1st edition of 'Conversas sem Makas', an event organised by economist Carlos Rosado de Carvalho.
"We are building [a] gold refinery in Luanda. Production is still very small, but [the] potential is great in several provinces," the minister emphasised.
Located in the Viana Industrial Estate in Luanda, with an investment of US$7 million by Geoangol (owned by the state diamond company Endiama), the complex will have a refining capacity of around 25 kilograms of gold per day.
Diamantino Azevedo also said that the National Geology Plan (Planageo) had made it possible to observe more than 300 points of occurrence of critical minerals in Angola, the demand for which has been increasing significantly.
At the end of last year, 87 prospecting projects and 25 mining projects had been licensed for this type of mineral.
Regarding the Diamond market, an initiative set up by public companies Sodiam and Endiama to ensure diamond auctions at national level, the minister said he believed it would be up and running by 2026.
Angola, which in 2023 was the world's fourth largest diamond producer, also expects to increase production from the current 9.77 million carats to 17.6 million carats in 2027, with the start-up of the Yetwene diamond projects in Lunda Norte province and Luele (Luaxe) in Lunda Sul province.
The country currently has two cutting factories installed at the Saurimo Diamond Development Centre (Lunda Sul), and a new Diamond Cutting Centre is to be built in Dundo (Lunda Norte).
In total, according to Diamantino Azevedo, 588 mining permits have been registered, essentially for the exploitation of diamonds, marble, limestone and gold, of which around 50% are related to prospecting.
He also pointed out that major mining companies such as Anglo American, Rio Tinto (the world's third largest mining company), De Beers, Pensana Metals, Minbos and Ivanhoe are currently operating on Angolan soil, as well as Russia's Alrosa, which is leaving the Catoca mining company due to sanctions imposed on Russia.
The government official considered that mining should essentially be carried out by companies, to the detriment of cooperatives, stressing, however, that the system needs to be improved to allow more Angolans to enter the semi-industrial activity provided for in the legislation.
As for illegal mining, he emphasised that, as well as being illegal, it was an "unprofitable activity" and should therefore be curbed, adding that it had several associated risks, including an increase in illegal immigration and prostitution.
RCR/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
