"Sanctions are there and there is some impact," Diamantino Azevedo, Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference in Cape Town.
He did not quantify the impact on Endiama from the sanctions on Alrosa and said the government was taking all measures needed to avoid any negative effect on diamond production. Endiama's proposed privatisation is still on the cards and the government would opt for an initial public offering after its restructuring, Azevedo said.
"Our goal is (to list) till 30% but will start maybe with five or 10%," he said, adding the company would be listed on the Angolan stock exchange and then seek a secondary foreign listing.
According to a document circulated by Endiama at the mining conference, its production for 2022 was almost flat at 8.75 million carats. That is against a revised guidance of 10.05 million carats it predicted last year.
The diamond miner expects to produce 12 million carats in 2023 and 14.5 million carats in 2024, according to the document, which estimated revenues at $2.5 billion in 2024.
But the government has not yet accepted the estimates,
Azevedo said.
Endiama plans to more than double its diamond production
between 2022 and 2027 to 17.5 million carats, the document
said.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Wendell Roelf
Editing by Mark Potter)
