Angola's Luele diamond mine, worth of $600 million, has commenced operations, as reported by media.
The Luele deposit was discovered by the Angolan state diamond miner Catoca at the project, previously known as Luexe, in 2013, the media said. The Luele project is believed to be the biggest diamond site in the country and one of the largest in the world in terms of estimated resources.
The project's presentation revealed an estimated 628 million carats of diamonds with a mine life of 60 years. Luele's production plans for 2024 remain unknown, however, the report states that around 5 million carats of diamonds have been already mined at the site.
The project is expected to process about 4 million metric tons of ore per year, with a gradual increase to 12 million tons in several years, as noted by the outlet.
The 2022 KPCS report said that Angola produced approximately 8.7 million carats, securing the sixth position globally in the industry with $1.9 billion diamond production value. In general, about 61.6 million carats were mined in Africa, according to the KPCS.
Among the current largest African diamond producers are Botswana (24.5 million carats), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (9.9 million carats) and South Africa (9.7 million carats).