Angola working on the discovery of new diamond reserves

Chissema the Lunda-Norte reserve projected for 60K carats 

Sociedade Mineira do Chissema is working on the discovery of new diamond reserves, to increase its levels of production, turnover and its contribution to the General State Budget (OGE), through taxes payment. Located in the municipality of Capenda-Camulemba, Lunda-Norte province, the mine had a production of 16 carats of diamonds in the first half of the year, levels below the projection, which was 60 thousand carats. 

Speaking to the press about the current state of the mine, the head of the geology department, José Van Dúnem, said that initially a monthly production of 10 carats of diamonds per month was planned, but the company decided to reduce the levels due to the fall in the price of the strategic mineral on the world market.

He said that only two blocks are currently being explored and the rest are being reassessed, through a prospecting program, which included the discovery of new reserves, to find diamonds of higher value. 

He said that for this last quarter and, depending on the investment that is being made in prospecting, the company expects to reach the initial targets, 10 thousand carats/month.  

The mine, which went from a semi-industrial to an industrial project in 2022, has a concession of 1,019 square kilometers, guarantees 730 direct and indirect jobs. 

It works with two washes with a capacity to produce 170 tons of ore/day and the monthly removal of one million and 200 cubic meters of ore. The company is the result of a partnership between Endiama and two national companies, with the main investor being a young local entrepreneur.