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Alrosa, Angola Sign Deal on New $35B Mine
May 24, 2017 8:02 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Alrosa has partnered with Angolan national diamond company
Endiama to develop the African nation’s largest kimberlite deposit, claiming
the project could be worth more than $35 billion.
Alrosa
discovered the Luele mine during exploration work it carried out together with local
experts in 2013. The asset is located in the Luaxe region and has been the subject of
negotiations between Alrosa and Angolan officials and investors over the past few years, the Russian
miner explained.
“If the resources are confirmed, it might be one of the biggest [discoveries of a diamond deposit] in the past 60 years worldwide,” an Alrosa spokesperson said Wednesday.
Sergey Ivanov and Antonio Carlos Sumbula, presidents of
Alrosa and Endiama respectively, signed an agreement Tuesday to establish Luaxe International Enterprise, which will manage the mine’s development. The deal followed Ivanov’s visit to Angola earlier this month, one of
his first foreign trips since he took over the company leadership in March.
The deal has been structured through Catoca, which operates Angola’s largest active diamond mine and in which Alrosa and Endiama each have a 32.8% stake. Catoca
will get a 50.5% stake in Luaxe and the Luele project, with Alrosa proposing
to buy an additional 8% in the asset independently. Alrosa also intends to increase its share in Catoca, it said.
“As a specialized investor in the Luaxe [enterprise], Alrosa, which has relevant professional competence, will assume obligations for the new company’s project solutions and technical policy,” Ivanov said in a statement. “The total commercial value of the deposit is assessed as over $35 billion.”
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Tags:
Alrosa, Angola, Antonio Carlos Sumbula, discovery, ENDIAMA, exploration, Luaxe, mining, Rapaport News, Russia, Sergey Ivanov
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