SA diamond giant builds new headquarters in Luanda

The South African diamond mining giant, De Beers, is planning to develop a new 12-storey office complex in the Angolan capital Luanda, a company spokeswoman told IRIN on Tuesday. The decision follows an agreement De Beers signed last month with the national diamond company, Endiama. De Beers said it planned to spend approximately US $30 million to develop and equip the building using locally based building contractors. "This building will incorporate the latest technology required for the efficient and secure handling of rough diamonds. It will also house facilities for training Angolans in the key skills of sorting and valuing rough diamonds," she said explaining that the company had built similar facilities in Botswana and Namibia. Endiama and De beers have previously signed agreements on prospecting for new diamond deposits in three different areas of Angola as well as for the marketing of diamonds from the Cuango River basin. In recent weeks, De Beers pledged to assist the United Nations in its efforts to curb illegal diamond sales under the UN's new sanctions drive against the UNITA rebel movement. A company statement sent to IRIN said that while "much has been written about the illegal mining and selling of diamonds to the civil conflict in Angola", De beers remained one of the largest foreign investors in the war-torn country. Despite the worsening security situation since the breakdown last December of the UN brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords, De Beers and Endiama had discovered four new kimberlite diamond sources at its Lunda Norte concession in northeast Angola. "De Beers, whose licensed buying offices are also run in partnership with Endiama, has an obvious vested interest in a return to peace. It continues to adhere fully to both the letter and the spirit of the UN's 'diamond sanctions' and has offered its full cooperation and assistance on this issue to the President of Angola and the to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan," the statement said.