An Angolan official said yesterday, Thursday, that a company affiliated with the Omani sovereign wealth fund will replace the sanctioned Russian company Alrosa in the Catoka diamond exploration company run by the Angolan government.
Angola has been under pressure to end its long-term partnership with Alrosa, which is run by the Russian government, since 2022, when the West imposed sanctions on Alrosa over the war in Ukraine.
Alrosa is the fourth largest global producer of uncut diamonds by quantity.
“From now on, we have a new partner, and this partner is the only one who will exercise the rights that Alrosa had up to the present moment,” Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, said.
He added in a statement to an official radio station, “The partnership between Alrosa, Endiama’s partner in the Catoka Mining Company, will end with this company, and consequently its partnership with the Luili Mining Company will also end.”
Alrosa, which owns a 41% stake in Catoka, declined to comment, while Azevedo did not provide any additional details about the deal with the Omani company, according to Reuters.
The minister stated that the sanctioned Alrosa’s abandonment of its shareholding in the Angolan diamond mining company affects “Angola’s credibility in the international diamond market.”
Angola is the sixth largest producer of diamonds in the world with 8.76 million carats, while Russia tops the list of largest producers with 41.92 million carats.
This is a list of the largest diamond producers in the world, according to the Canadian economic website Visual Capitalist:
- Russia 41.92 million carats.
- Botswana 24.75 million carats.
- Canada 16.24 million carats.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo 9.9 million carats.
- South Africa 9.66 million carats.
- Angola 8.76 million carats.
- Zimbabwe 4.46 million carats.
- Namibia 2.05 million carats.
- Lesotho 727 thousand and 737 carats.
- Sierra Leone 668 thousand and 970 carats.
- Tanzania 375 thousand and 533 carats.
- Brazil: 158,420 carats.
