Capenda-Camulemba - The diamonds extracted from the Lulo mine, located in eastern Lunda Norte province, especially the rare or special ones, have secured good revenues, despite the fall in the sale price to less than 57 percent, its CEO Domingos Machado said Thursday.
According to Domingos Machado, the diamonds from this deposit are still “very attractive” and attract buyers from different markets around the world.
The CEO of the mining society, who made the statements during a visit by the Lunda-Norte governor, Filomena Miza, said the average selling price of diamonds from the mine on the international market, at auction, is 1,850 dollars per carat.
Domingos Machado, who was coy on the turnover levels reached in the first half of this year, said monthly production levels are below 2,500 carats, compared to the 3,000 carats expected.
He explained that the drop in production level is due to the fact that the company is currently operating at 40 to 45 percent of its capacity during this period, because of the constraints experienced during the rainy season, which flooded most of the blocks.
“We think that by October or November we'll be able to recover the production levels that were forecast,” Machado said.
The Lulo mine, located in the municipality of Capenda-Camulemba, Lunda-Norte province, has shown high quality and quantity potential, having achieved the highest value per carat in the world in its first year of operation, in the order of 2,985 dollars.
Since the mine began operations in 2010, 45 diamonds over 100 carats have been extracted, five of which in 2024.
Lulo is also the mine where the largest diamond yet found in Angola was extracted, with 404.2 carats, sold in May 2016 for 16 million US dollars, which yielded 34 million US dollars after being cut and turned into jewelry.
With a concession of 3,000 square kilometers, the mine, owned by Angolan companies Endiama E.P (32%) and Rosas & Pétalas (28%), as well as Australian company Lucapa Diamond (40%), currently provides 700 direct and indirect jobs.HD/DAN/AMP
