Diamond Prospectors Return to Angola - Sep.2002
A British mining company recently received clearance from the Angolan
government to begin a diamond exploration program in Angola’s Cuango River
Basin, a first since the end of the country’s 27-year-old civil war.
The Angolan Council of Ministers has approved an agreement that allows IDAS
Resources NV, a subsidiary of London-based America Mineral Fields, to utilize
the company's two alluvial diamond licenses, which are located north of the
Cuango River Basin, next to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The agreement stipulates that IDAS has a 51 percent stake in a new joint
venture until all shareholder loans are repaid. Endiama, the state-owned diamond
company, owns 36 percent, while the remaining 13 percent is owned by private
interests. v
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