LLD Diamonds Namibia, a subsidiary of the Leviev Group of Companies is currently cutting and polishing about 2000 carats of rough diamonds every month, a company official has said.
Company managing director Kombadayedu Kapwanga told Rough & Polished in an exclusive interview that this translated to 24,000 carats per annum.
He said LLD Diamonds Namibia’s factory in Windhoek was now operating at almost full capacity having been briefly placed under care and maintenance four years ago as a result of the global economic recession.
“The uniqueness of our company is that it is one of the companies that employs lots of Namibians in cutting and polishing of diamonds,” Kapwanga said.
He said that locals now constituted 99 percent of the employees working at the factory.
Kapwanga said that LLD Diamonds Namibia was selling its polished diamonds to traditional markets, which included Russia and the United States, adding that they were not yet heavily involved in the emerging Chinese and Indian markets.
Asked what the company had accrued from the trading of polished diamonds last year, the LLD Diamonds Namibia boss, said that it was difficult to tell, as the gems were marketed as a group.
“That question is difficult to answer because we sell the diamonds as group, not as LLD Diamonds Namibia,” he said.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
