An international diamond industry conference will be held in the Angolan capital on June 20 and 21 as part of ongoing commemorations celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the first diamond in Angola.

Macauhub quotes the Angolan news agency ANGOP as reporting that the three-session event, organised by Angola’s Empresa Nacional de Diamantes (Endiama), will cover issues associated with the diamond and jewellery industry, prospecting, research, production, polishing and marketing and market prices. It will also address the Kimberley Process.

The keynote speakers will be South African minister of mineral resources Susan Shabangu; the ministers of mines of Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic Congo (DRC), Obert Moses M’pofu and Martin Kabwelulu Labilo respectively; and the Kimberly Process chairperson, Welile Nhlapo.

Other speakers include the heads of the World Diamond Council, the Industrial Diamonds Association, the Shanghai and Dubai diamond exchanges and the Antwerp Diamond Bank.

In Angola, the occurrence of diamonds was first recorded in 1590, while the first crystals classified as diamonds were discovered in 1909.

In 1912 evidence of diamonds in the country increased when two geologists associated with the Belgian company Forminière found seven diamonds in Mussalala Creek in Lunda Norte.

 

The Companhia de Pesquisas Mineiras de Angola was founded that same year, and the first diamond exploitation operations took place along the Chicapa River and tributaries.