Alrosa Signs Angola Prospecting Deal

Following an investment and trade tour to southern Africa by Russia’s prime minister, Alrosa, the country’s largest diamond company, has signed an agreement with Angola's national diamond company Endiama to conduct geological prospecting in the African state.

Alrosa will invest an estimated $14 million in prospecting an area of 3,000 square kilometers in the Cacola region.

A surveying and offshore oil extraction agreement may also be in the offing with Angola’s national oil company, says Alrosa.

Alrosa holds a 32.8 percent stake in Angola’s Catoca Mining Society which accounts for 3 percent of the world's diamond market.

A 16-megawatt hydroelectric plant, 80 percent of whose electricity will supply Catoca and its other mining society, Camatchia-Camagico, is also being built by Alrosa.