Safdico seals deal to polish Angolan diamonds
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday February 7, 2020 14:13
Already, Safdico, which owns a local diamond and cutting firm and also operates the Diamond Technology Park near the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, has bought a ‘significant’ portion of the 4,900 carats made available from Lucapa’s Lulo Mine.
Lulo Mine is targeting the production of 60,000 carats this year and in the four years since its commissioning, has distinguished itself for unearthing large stones, with 14 diamonds of more than 100 carats produced to date.
Under the deal, Safdico will buy, cut and polish a portion of Lulo Mine’s production, up to 60% annually. The two partners will share profits from the eventual sale of the stones. The partnership is unique as Angola only recently relaxed its rules for diamond marketing.
“We are excited with this deal as it is aligned to Safdico’s visionary plans to become a key catalyst of the next growth phase of the diamond industry downstream activities,” Safdico international resident director, Rutang Moses said in a statement.
“Ten years ago, we developed the Diamond Technology Park, which is now the bedrock of Botswana’s fledging diamond trading, cutting and polishing activities. This deal will help us leverage the Park and expand the business through innovation and diversification of services.”
Since last year, Angola has been reforming its diamond industry by opening up sales to a wider range of buyers of miners’ choices in order to attract more investment, increase production and secure higher government revenue.
The Safdico partnership with Lucapa supports Angola’s new diamond industry framework which aims to attract big diamond companies and increase the flow of Angolan diamonds to global trading centres.
Safdico invested in Botswana over 11 years ago with the goal of creating of a local diamond industry secondary market and contribute towards the transformation of Botswana from being one of the largest diamond producing countries into an international diamond centre.