Catoca to produce 8mn cts in FY2018
Catoca's performance indicators for the year 2017 are estimated to produce an estimated eight million carats of diamonds, with costs below those achieved in 2016 when seven million and two hundred thousand carats were sold, said the director general.
Serguei Amelin said that the "good net profit" of USD 138 million (to an expectation around 155 million) meets the expectation and has not only increased due to the increase of the partner programs and the salary charges that were higher than originally planned.
Amelin highlighted in the social field investments in the construction of a school and medical post in the town of Sweja, about 25 kilometres from the city of Saurimo. The list of charges includes the construction of a social housing area for the adequate resettlement of people based in the town of Luaxe, in a project estimated at USD 5 million, of which three million have already been invested as a result of the phased implementation of actions for exploitation of diamonds in the locality that holds one of the largest kimberlites in the world.
According to the director general, the works that precede the beginning of the intended exploration end in March 2018. As far as the removal of the barren from the deposit, until March 2018, it is expected to reach a depth of 70 meters in a project that started about of seven months and which aims to promote the start up of exploitation of the ore.
