Luanda - Australian multinational “Rio Tinto”, the second largest minerals company in the world, recently began prospecting for kimberlites and diamonds in the commune of Chiri, eastern Lunda Norte province, said its general director Canga Chaquivuila.
The four-year prospecting phase, in the 75 hectare and 108 square kilometer mine, results from a mining investment contract in the Chiri kimberlite (Lunda-Norte).
Signed the deal Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Endiama and the Anglo-Australian multinational Rio Tinto.
Speaking to ANGOP, Canga Chaquivuila said that the prospecting phase, which consists of evaluating the land and its resources, can be extended for another four years, upon contract renewal.
He said the global investment contract gives the company a concession period of 35 years, with 75 percent stakes for the multinational and 25 percent for the Angolan state diamond company Endiama.
Angola's participation, through the diamond company Endiama, results from investments of 14 million dollars made in the mine over time and used in drilling, geological and mining research that made it possible to determine that it is, in fact, a kimberlite mineralised.
The contract allows the Angolan diamond company to raise its stake to 49 percent, which will imply a reduction in the multinational's shareholding by around 51 percent.
According to the former manager of the Geological Institute of Angola, the several discoveries and mining occurrences, the entry of a company with the capacity and potential of Rio Tinto, raises the economy of the sector and the country in general, as being a conglomerate considered as of the most powerful in the world.
The manager underlined that the ongoing prospecting work has, among other things, the potential to increasingly value the country's mineral resources.
Rio Tinto
The Rio Tinto group is an Anglo-Australian conglomerate with its main office in London, United Kingdom, which focuses on the exploration of minerals such as diamond, iron, copper, aluminum, coal, titanium dioxide, boron, talc and uranium.
The group has operations in more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe, South America, North America and Oceania, in an investment valued at more than 147 billion dollars.
In Angola, Rio Tinto intends to employ more than 2,000 workers in its mining phase, the period that follows prospecting, most of them Angolans.
