Lulo is one of the most important diamond mines in the world, formed by a company between the state-owned National Diamond Company of Angola (ENDIAMA) with 32%, privately-owned Angolan company Rosa and Pétalas (28%) and the Australian operator Lucapa Diamond Company ( 40%).
In a response to questions from the news agency, Domingos Machado said that the operations had been “reduced” as soon as the State of Emergency was declared, but the company “was never” stopped.
According to the official, the company, which has 435 workers, is working with about half of that total, in two shifts, of eight hours each.
Lulo was the mine where the Australian Lucapa Diamond Company found the 27th largest diamond in the world, originally 404.2 carats and seven centimeters long, which was sold for US$16M in Switzerland.
Regarding the decision of the Angolan authorities to organize auctions for the sale of diamonds, Angola collected, in January this year, US$16.7M.
Source: Angop
