Shares in major diamond mine sold
Publish date: 02 December 2024
Issue Number: 1105
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Angola
Angola has announced that Russian shares in two of its major diamond mines have been sold to an Omani-backed fund as a result of international sanctions. Russia's diamond giant Alrosa was until now a joint owner of Angola's Catcoa mine, the fourth-largest in the world, and Luele mine, in partnership with the southern African nation's state-owned company Endiama. The Moscow Times reports that EU imposed sanctions on Alrosa and its CEO in January as part of a ban on diamond imports over the Ukraine war. This led to ‘a block on the commercialisation’ of diamonds from Catcoa and Luele mines, said Angola's Minister of Mineral Resources & Petroleum Diamantino Azevedo. After ‘negotiations between the Angolan and Russian Governments, as well as between Endiama and its partner,’ Alrosa has now ‘officially ceased operating in Angola,’ Azevedo said. The company has been ‘replaced by Maden International Group, a subsidiary of the Sovereign Fund of the Sultanate of Oman,’ the Minister added.