Ondjiva - The director of the office for Integrated and Economic Development in the southern Cunene Province, Felisberto Hisimongula, on Tuesday called on mining entrepreneurs to invest in the exploitation of dimension stones from the region's gabbro-anorthosite complex.
Speaking to ANGOP, he considered the level of mining exploitation in the province to be "quite low", compared to the provinces of Huíla and Namibe, and therefore encouraged the business community to invest more in this area.
According to the National Geology Plan (PLANAGEO), Cunene's gabbro-anorthosite complex, covering 45,000 square kilometres, is the second largest in the world.
Felisberto Hisimongula said that the Province of Cunene has enough material to be exploited for more than 30 years, with conditions for disposal through national road 105, which has good conditions for transporting this ore.
He recalled that the process of exploiting dimension stones from the gabbro-anorthosite complex began in 2023, with the exploitation of quartzite and marble in Otchijau commune, Cahama municipality.
He added that in the region, four companies are licensed and operating.
These are the companies Hipermáquinas and Rodang, which are currently carrying dimension stones exploration process in the town of Canhemei (Cahama), while the companies Transit-Africa.Lda and Angostone are in the prospecting phase.
The official revealed that currently there are in stock 2,000 blocks of several types of dimension stones, such as green, yellow and white marble, with markets in China, Italy and Spain.
According to him, due to the saturation of the market, the companies have paralysed production and will continue when the blocks in stock have been used up.
Felisberto Hisimongula added that these companies employ 30 workers trained in various areas of the sector, in sectors such as mining engineering, hammering, geology, research, bleaching, machine operators and mechanics.
Regarding social responsibility, he said that the Rodang company is building a school with three classrooms, as well as opening a water borehole with a capacity to generate 35,000 litres per hour, which is already available to the community.
As constraints, he pointed to the failure to present production reports and, consequently, the payment of royalties, corresponding to 2% of extracted production, under the terms of the law that approves the Mining Code.
He also emphasised the failure of some companies to provide socially responsible services for the benefit of the population, information about which was shared by the Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas.
The official recalled that the Ministry is responsible for licensing these companies and that, under administrative powers, the licensing of aggregate extraction companies has been transferred to the municipalities.
He informed that 10 companies are licensed in the province, six of which are limited to the exploitation of aggregates used in construction, such as sand, earth and granite for gravel, adding that the aggregates are being used in contracts to combat the effects of the drought in southern Angola.
FI/LHE/QCB/MRA/jmc
