East African country, Angola, has today unveiled a third diamond cutting factory with an estimated worth of USD 5 million. The factory which is called “Pedra Rubra” has an initial production capacity of 5,000 carats/month.

The factory is situated in the district of Maianga, Luanda.

According to Hélder Milagre, the owner of the factory, the company also has five jewelry stores in the country’s capital and is expected to produce, in the short term, enough jewelry to meet domestic market demand. He called on commercial banks to facilitate foreign exchange buying, as the rough diamonds are bought in foreign currency and sold in Angola in local currency (kwanzas).

Diamantino Azevedo, The Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, inaugurated the plant and pledged to address the concerns raised by Helder Milagre

“We are abiding by one of the Executive’s recommendations – focusing on production, sale and internal processing of diamonds,” said Diamantino Azevedo, who spoke on the reforms currently going on in the mining subsector.

Pedra Rubra joins other existing plants, like Stone Polished Diamond (SPD) inaugurated in February this year, and Angola Polished Diamond (APD), both located in Talatona, Luanda.

The third diamond-cutting company created 140 jobs, with 10% for foreigners.

Culled from macauhub.com.mo