13 Feb 2020

The recently signed partnership between Lucapa and Safdico International diamond has been hailed as an attempt by Lucapa to benefit from the Angolan diamond sector liberalisation and other new regulations permitted under Angola’s transformative new diamond marketing regulations.

The partnership is expected to deliver tangible outcomes and enable both parties to achieve their aspirations of being major diamond dealers.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of her Safdico factory tour, Angola’s ambassador to Botswana, Ms Beatriz Antonia Manuel de Morais expressed delight over the agreement between Lucapa and Safdico.

She highlighted that Botswana and Angola have created a solid foundation on which they could leverage in advancing their bilateral cooperation in a robust and synchronised manner to boost their economic growth.

As neighbouring countries, she said, the two faced similar socio-economic challenges, some of which required joint strategies to address, thus the Lucapa and Safdico deal could not be more appropriate and timely.

The partnership, she said, supported Angola’s new diamond industry framework, which aimed to attract direct mining investment and increase Angola’s diamond flow across the world as well as increase new revenue streams.

She said it was pleasing to note that such bilateral relations had proven to be useful mechanism, not only in strengthening relations between the two countries, but also creating a conducive and enabling environment for investors in both countries to engage in profitable business partnerships.

Ambassador Manuel de Morais noted with satisfaction that progress had been made in deepening cooperation in a number of areas including agriculture, energy, mining and many others, which would all be beneficial to the two country’s economies.

Safdico International resident director, Ms Rutang Moses commended the partnership deal, saying it was aligned to the company’s visionary plans to become a key catalyst of the diamond industry downstream activities.

To date, Safdico has purchased 4 900 carats of rough diamonds from Lulo mines under the commercial partnership, she said.

“Once procurement and manufacturing costs are deducted, the profits generated beyond the mine gate from the sale of the polished diamonds will be shared equally between Safdico and Lucapa’s subsidiary, Angolan based Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML),” says a statement from Lucapa diamond company.

Located at the Diamond Technology Park in Gaborone, Safdico International has been identified as a preferred buyer to purchase up to 60 per cent rough diamonds mined at Lucapa Diamond Company’s Lulo mine in Angola for cutting and polishing. ENDS