Cited by Angop, Ganga Júnior announced that the fund will use two to three percent of each of the companies that explore diamonds in Angola and that the first beneficiaries of this fund to finance socio-economic projects will be the provinces of Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Moxico.
Each mining company will necessarily have to contribute a percentage of its revenues, in the first phase between two or three percent of its production, values that can be around 30 or 40 million dollars, and apply them in the various sub-programs sustainable development of these regions, said the minister.
These values can be applied in agro-industrial, cultural projects, construction of schools, health units, housing, health, energy, sports, among others.
According to Ganga Júnior, the idea of these programs, which will be agreed with the provincial governments, is to prevent mining projects from working in isolation in the face of the adversities and complexity of social problems in the areas in which they operate.
In a meeting with young people in the municipality of Dundo, in the province of Lunda Norte, Ganga Júnior also said that the artisanal exploitation of diamonds in Angola promoted illicit trafficking, illegal migration, tax evasion and scams, admitting, however, that it is not possible to have only an industrial exploration due to the development of the industry itself.
During the meeting, according to Angop, Ganga Júnior also revealed that there are diamond companies that have not fulfilled their tax responsibilities for ten years and warned that offenders who do not carry out environmental restoration programs will be financially and criminally liable, and may even lose their exploitation right.
Endiama invoiced around 1.3 billion dollars in 2019, 10 percent more than in the same period last year, benefiting from the sale of 'stocks' that offset the reduction in the average price, according to the company's president announced earlier this month.
In 2019, there was a seven percent reduction in the average price of diamonds, which went down by 20 percent in some mines, "especially those in which diamonds are not that jewel," said the leader of the company during the press conference to present last year's results.
Endiama has 79 mining concessions, two of which are in the international public tender phase.
Currently, 12,200 workers work in the mining sub-sector, of which almost 500 belong to the diamond industry, which has 12 prospecting projects underway, seven of kimberlites (rock containing diamonds) and 13 secondary ones.
