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RAPAPORT... Catoca,
which operates Angola’s largest diamond mine, reported that sales rose 1
percent to $602.9 million in 2014.
Angola’s
diamond sector benefited from stable diamond prices during the year, while its
profile improved as it held the chairmanship of the Kimberley Process Certification
Scheme and a cutting factory was reopened, Catoca president, José Manuel
Augusto Ganga Jύnior, wrote in the company’s 2014 annual report. The average
price achieved from sales increased 3 percent to $92.66 per carat during the
year, while sales volume grew 1 percent to 6.641 million carats. Production at
the Catoca mine fell 2 percent to 6.456 million carats, accounting for 76
percent of Angola’s total diamond production by value and 47 percent by volume,
the company explained.
Jύnior noted
that efforts are being made to diversify Angola’s economy away from its
reliance on oil to one focused on mining, agriculture, construction, energy and
water. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 3.9 percent in
2014 due to the slump in oil prices, he reported. As part of that effort, Catoca’s
growth strategy is based on commitments to finding new diamond concessions in
Angola and abroad.
Angola’s
state-run mining company ENDIAMA owns 32.8 percent of Catoca, while Russian
miner ALROSA holds the same stake. Odebrecht and LLI Holdings are among Catoca’s
other shareholders.
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