Luanda – The National Diamond Marketing Company of Angola (SODIAM) pocketed around 56. 6 million dollars, as a result of the third rough diamond auction, held this Thursday, in Luanda.
The amount results specifically from the tender for special diamonds from the Uari, Lulo, Catoca and Luele mines, whose bid evaluation sessions, which were submitted electronically, took place between the 9th and 23rd June.
In total, the National Diamond Marketing Company of Angola (SODIAM E.P) raised 56.6 million dollars.
In addition to the diversified set of special stones, a batch of “run-of-mine” composition (raw ore) varied in all sizes of the production of kimberlite Luele in the Luaxe region was also on sale, reads a company note.
“A package with detailed rules for participation was provided to the participants, and bookings for viewing were made through the address: booking@sodiamsales.com”, explains the document that Angop had access this Thursday.
This session, which ended at 11:00 am this Thursday, was attended by more than 50 companies from the world's main diamond market.
The first diamond auction took place in February 2019, in light of the new diamond marketing policy, while the second took place in December of the same year.
Due to Covid-19, it was not possible to carry out auctions in 2020, and for the present auction was taken all precaution and biosafety measures required by the competent authorities to control and combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the current auction format, for the diamond buying ceremony, participating companies present their bids remotely, in a closed model, on the “online” electronic platform created for this purpose, a model that generates greater transparency in the process and allows obtaining a higher commercial value for the available stones.
Despite the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, the third diamond auction was confirmed as the largest so far, in terms of participation and value collected.
Founded in 1999, SODIAM E.P is the state owned company responsible for marketing Angola's diamond production.
The productions sold to date are the result of twelve productions, between Kimberly and alluvial, and cover the entire spectrum of qualities in terms of sizes, models, purities and colors.
Last year, the company sold more than 7.7 million carats of run-of-mine stones , for a total value of US$1.13 million, corresponding to an average price of USD/Ct 130.90, positioning Angola as the third largest producer of rough diamonds in terms of value.
