Top diamond producer De Beers, a unit of Anglo America will, has signed three new agreements with Angola to bolster diamond processing in the southern African country while seeking new commercial prospects, CEO Al Cook said on Tuesday.
The agreements, including one with Angola's state-owned diamond company Endiama, builds on exploration contracts signed in 2022 that saw De Beers return to the country for the first time since leaving in 2012.
"We believe this is a real step forward in our cooperation," Cook said during a signing ceremony on the margins of a African mining indaba in Cape Town.
One agreement with Sodiam, Angola's national diamond trading company, sought to ensure partners used the best processes for sorting and processing diamonds in Angola, leaning on expertise developed by De Beers in Botswana.
Botswana and Angola are among the top diamond producers in Africa and their respective mining ministers were present at the signing ceremony.
Another agreement considered enhancing semi-industrial mining so that it was "done in the right way" while the third contract with Endiama sought to review kimberlite potential across Angola by using the latest global technology to identify new commercial prospects.
"We’re enormously excited about the potential in Angola and what we are delighted about is working with the Angolan government to simultaneously address the potential under the ground in Angola, but to turn it into unlimited potential over the ground for the people of Angola," Cook said.
REUTERS