Image credit: Endiama
(operanewsapp.com) - The global diamond market has recorded a decline of about 50 percent since March this year compared to the same period in 2019, said Endiama Mining CEO Pedro Galiano.
Endiama Mining is a division of Endiama that is engaged in the prospecting, exploration, mining, processing and marketing of diamonds and associated minerals.
Prior to the first half of 2019, Angola sold 1.5 million carats of diamonds through SODIAM (at an average price of $ 155.3 per carat), earning a total of $ 232.8 million. Without citing figures for the current year and analyzing the future of the diamond sector, the Angolan official said the drop in trade was due to a market recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also said that fluctuations in diamond prices could create uncertainty about the revenues expected in the diamond sector this year if the current epidemiological situation in the world continues. Due to this kind of decline in the market, the process of diamond prospecting becomes more complicated and expensive, while operating costs exceed the norm, since most of the goods produced are stored at SODIAM due to lack of customers.
To mitigate this problem, Endiama Mining invested US$ 10 million in the acquisition of earthmoving equipment used within alluvial projects in the development zones.
Also, for this purpose, the company bought four bulldozers and six excavators, which minimized the company’s operational and maintenance costs.
In 2018, the Angolan authorities approved a new Diamond Trading Policy, currently in force, within which the bench-mark selling price was previously determined by agreement between the main participants in the process, namely: the producer, SODIAM and the independent appraiser.
