Macauhub quoted Catoca director-general Sergei Amelin as saying that this would, however, be a drop from 7.4 million carats registered in 2017 due to attention being focused on the launch of the Luaxe mining project, which was owned by Endiama and Alrosa.
Luaxe was projected to record an annual output of between 8 million carats and 10 million carats.
The mine, considered the largest compared to Catoca, was running according to schedule and would be officially launched in March, Amelin said.
He said Luaxe had a reserve of about 350 million carats and an exploration forecast of about 29 years.
It also had a surface area of 100 hectares and is expected to be mined to a depth of 400 metres.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished