Moscow: Alrosa said a geological research carried out by Angolan and Russian geologists in Angola over the last five years has shown that the country’s diamond reserves are estimated at 1 billion carats.

Company deputy director of the geological prospecting unit Victor Ustinov was quoted by Macauhub as saying that more than 950 million carats of the diamond reserves were in kimberlites and 50 million carats were alluvial.

He said the diamond reserve would likely reach 1.5 billion carats if additional studies were carried out to learn more about the potential of the country.

The geologists were said to have concluded that most of the kimberlites discovered in the country were located in North Eastern Angola and belong to an area called “open territories,” where they are exposed to the air and are visible.

Angola’s territory was divided into four areas with diamond potential areas, which were characterised as having high potential, likely potential, without potential and moving bands.

Angola produced 9.21 million carats of diamonds last year, exceeding a target of 9 million carats set by the ministry of planning and territorial development.

Angola’s state-owned diamond mining company Endiama and Alrosa discovered Luaxe in 2015, which was projected to record an annual output of between 8 million carats and 10 million carats.