Geological exploration going on at Luaxe in Angola

Guided by Decree 192-A / 20 issued by the President of Angola on 23 July 2020, the local executive authorities gave their permission to go on with exploration work at the Luaxe Diamond Field to increase government revenues, create jobs and promote national development.
In October 2020, José Ganga Júnior, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ENDIAMA ordered to appoint a management team for the Luaxe project, the world’s largest diamond deposit discovered in recent years by Sociedade Mineira de Catoca and located 20 km from the Catoca mine in the Lunda Sul Province.
With the creation of this technical group, conditions have been created to continue the exploration and data processing required to complete the projects and studies required to start diamond production scheduled for the coming months.
The technical team mainly consists of senior staff members from Sociedade Mineira de Catoca. Its appointed specialists include Dr. Pedro Velasco Galiano, who as Head of Mining Operations at Endiama has assumed the duties of Mining Director; Engineer Bráulio Mucace, who has worked at Catoca for the past few years and is an Angolan coordinator of information pertaining to mining operations, will now take care of materials needed for the project and mining plan as Deputy Director of Production Operations.
This group also includes Dr Tinta Manuel Vunda, exploration specialist reporting to engineer Teófilo Tchifunga, Geology Chief at Catoca, who will act as Deputy Director for Exploration and Development; Dr. António Tiago Dias Duarte, until now Head of Implementation Office at the Luele Project, will continue to coordinate the work of the support platform to all activities as Deputy Director of Planning and Maintenance.
Additionally, this group will include Telírio Pinto, a financial analyst, and Dionísio Neto, who dealt with technology issues, as advisors on financial and technological matters.
The Luaxe concession is located in the eastern region of Angola, in the southern part of Lunda Norte, north of Lunda Sul and 20 km from the Catoca mine, where the Luaxe kimberlite pipe was discovered in 2013, which represents an important diamond deposit both on a national and international level, mainly due to its size and diamond reserves.
The geological exploration works going on at the Luaxe kimberlite pipe are at an advanced stage, and the results indicate that the deposit has a diamond reserve of 350 million carats and an annual production potential of 10 million carats over a long period of operation. According to preliminary estimates, Luaxe can generate $ 35 billion in revenues.

Dias Francisco, correspondent of Rough&Polished in Angola