It is expected that, by the end of 2014, Angola will record an increase in diamond production by 25% to 10 million carats of diamonds, a government official said.
The Macauhub portal quoted a statement by the Minister of Geology and Mining Francisco Francisco Queiroz, made at a conference in London, that the increase in diamond production was due to the recent launch of two new projects.
"This year, we set an ambitious plan to produce 9.5 million carats of diamonds in industrial plants and produce 550,000 carats of diamonds through private mining, which means we have to mine 10 million carats," Keirosh said.
A little over 8 million carats of rough diamonds were mined last year in Angola.
Keirosh expressed his confidence that the production plan for 2014 will be fulfilled, without paying much attention to the fact that in May diamond production fell by 24% compared to April this year and amounted to 600,000 carats.