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.