Russian, Angolan diamond groups sign MoU

Russia’s predominantly State-owned global diamond mining major Alrosa and Angola’s State-owned national diamond mining company Endiama signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) early this month. This marks the latest stage in the development of the relationship between the two entities, which have been cooperating for more than 25 years. They are the co-founders and main shareholders (with 41% each) in Angola’s largest diamond mining company, Catoca. (Catoca has estimated reserves of 120-million carats, and mines and sells about 6.8-million carats of diamonds a year.) Also, since 2014 they have been jointly exploring for diamonds in Angola.