Country still far from locally polishing 20 percent of the diamonds it produces

The topic was addressed during a press conference, promoted by the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, which announced the holding in Saurimo, capital of Lunda Sul province, of the I Angola Diamonds International Conference, taking place between 25 and 27 Of this month.

According to the secretary of State for Mineral Resources, Jânio Correia Victor, the cutting of diamonds, a theme to be developed at the conference, "is very important for the country", noting that the activity is being carried out in Angola already with some sequence.

"At this moment, we already have some stoning factories, both in Luanda and in Saurimo, in the Diamond Development Pole, which are mostly working with young Angolan personnel," he said.

Jânio Correia Victor stressed the need to add value to this raw material, "something that was not done in ancient times". "A good part of our material was exported in raw form - some of it is still exported, because we are an exporting country - but our target, according to our diamond marketing policy, is that up to 20 percent of the diamond produced in Angola be polished here", he referred.

In turn, the chairman of the board of directors of the Angolan National Diamond Company (Endiama), José Ganga Júnior, said that the local diamond cutting is still insufficient, stressing that there is still a lot of space for investment in this activity.

"At the very least, we would like 20 percent of our gross production to be polished here in-house, but we are actually a long way from that," he noted.

According to José Ganga Júnior, cutting is a branch of activity that is millenary, as in the particular case of India, noting that in some visits to that country, more than 200,000 people were found dedicated to cutting diamonds exclusively from Angola.

"If I didn't give that money, of course, nobody would put themselves in it. Now, talking about the profitability index, everything depends on the characteristics, on the quality of the diamonds, but we have no doubts, at least in the projects we are now entering into cutting, we have been in terms of a feasibility study to consider profitability rates in the order of 20 percent," he informed.

The chairman of the board of directors of the Society for the Marketing of Diamonds (Sodiam), Eugénio Bravo da Rosa, reiterated that Angola is still "very far" from locally polishing 20 percent of the diamonds produced.

"There is a long way to go to reach this level, but we have no alternative but to walk, and that is what we have been doing. Until 2019, we had only one cutting plant, after that date they emerged in Luanda has three more and now in Saurimo there are also three more cutting factories and a training sector," he said.

Eugénio Bravo da Rosa highlighted that with this increase in the cutting sector, the existing workforce tripled.

"We have created more job opportunities, both in Luanda and in Saurimo, and we have been training young Angolans so that they can learn from A to Z what cutting techniques are. In the medium term, stoning levels in Angola will increase considerably", he considered.

"We talk about percentages that vary between one, two, three percent, at the most, if we triple the workforce, I believe that in the coming years we will be in a position to have more significant percentages, although still far below the 20 percent, which is quantity of diamonds destined for cutting in the country," he added.

The chairman of the board of directors of Sodiam pointed out that, in 2020, due to the covid-19 pandemic, only one factory operated at 100 percent, condition improved this year.
"However, I believe that only from 2022 onwards will we actually begin to have the impact of this investment that has been made in Luanda and Saurimo, mainly in the Diamond Development Pole, in terms of cutting, creating value, job creation", he indicated.

At the moment, three more cutting factories are under construction, continued the official, stating that there is still room at the center for the integration of more investments, more cutting factories, noting that the jewelry industry is one of the segments for which it is necessary to evolve.