Luanda: Diamond mining company Sociedade Mineira do Tcheji, which will explore a diamond mine with the same name, expects initially to extract 3,000 carats of diamonds per month, with estimated revenues of US$1.5 million, Angolan news agency Angop reported.

Mining.com reports (in Portuguese) that leaders of the Sociedade Mineira do Tcheji emphasized that “in the next 45 days after the completion of the work of fitting the new center for the treatment of the ore, production will be raised from three to six thousand carats of diamonds per month.” This project, whose mine is located in an area spread across the provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, was formally inaugurated Saturday by the Angolan Minister for Geology and MInes, Francisco Queiroz, in a ceremony held in the municipality of Lucapa, Lunda Norte province. Exploration work is being conducted in Lunda Norte, on a concession area of 635 square kilometres.

The inauguration of the Tcheji project marks a new era in the development of Angola’s diamond industry and follows the signing of an exploration contract between Endiama, Oga and Aricon, as investors, and shareholders Ipergesta, Somia Yassacama and BK.

According to mining.com, “The importance of the new mine relates to the fact that geological prospecting studies have determined the existence of large deposits, which point to reserves of 250 thousand carats of diamonds, in an area that corresponds to ten per cent of the perimeter of the concession.”

The initial investment for this project is US$15 million and prospecting work began in 2011. In 2015 Angola produced over 9 million carats of diamonds and that level of production is expected to increase because of the launch of the Tcheji project.