The Angolan Council of Ministers has approved a new policy regarding the sale of its rough diamonds in an attempt “to stimulate more investments in the production of the precious stones, as well as to open the market to all those interested in it”. This, according to Mineral Resources and Petroleum Minister Diamantino Azevedo, quoted in Mining Weekly.
Previously, diamonds could only be sold to “preferred clients”, Azevedo explained during the Ministry’s first Consultative Council meeting last week. These clients were a restricted group of companies that bought the country’s entire production. From now on, sales will be made by the diamond miners themselves, with the State-owned Sodiam company “acting as an oversight agency”. According to the report, “this change is expected to increase the number of enterprises seeking to buy Angolan diamonds”.
Last month, the country’s biggest diamond mine, Catoca, reported to Azevedo that “the preferred clients sales system had cost it $464-million over the past six years”, since it was “forced to sell its diamonds to these preferred purchasers at below market prices”.
