On Monday, the President of Angola, João Lourenço, inaugurated the country's largest diamond exploration project, at the Luele mine, for which the consortium has already invested 635 million dollars.

The Sociedade Mineira do Luele consortium is made up of Catoca with a 50.5% stake, Angolan state diamond company Endiama, 25%, Falcon, 19.5%, Reform, 4.0%, and the Geological Institute of Angola (IGEO), 1%, according to Negócios newspaper.

The project is located in the northeast of Angola, in the province of Lunda Sul, and was discovered in November 2013 during geological surveys by Sociedade Mineira de Catoca.

Mining is due to begin this year and production is estimated at 628 million carats.

Preliminary studies of the geological potential indicate that the Luele kimberlite (diamond matrix rock), 600 meters deep, in an area of 105 hectares, contains a quantity of ore of 647 million tons, which will result in 628 million carats during the mine's 60-year lifespan.