Lev Leviev To Sell Angola Stones On Open Market

Angola is among the five largest diamond producing countries by value, with sales of more than $1 billion in 2012.

Lev Leviev, the Israeli diamond magnate, will be able to sell diamonds that he mines in Angola on the open market after reaching an agreement with authorities to do so, according to people with knowledge of the deal.

Essentially, this means that he will be able to charge more for the diamonds from his Luminas mine on global markets instead of the discount price to specified Chinese and Dubai traders, the sources told Bloomberg News.

The agreement could allow Leviev to increase prices by up to 50 percent, according to two people with whom Bloomberg spoke.

Diamonds from Catoca, the world’s fourth-largest mine, are sold via Angola’s Sodiam state marketing subsidiary to preferred buyers at an average of about $100 a carat, while they can fetch about $150 on the world diamond market, the sources said.

A spokeswoman for Leviev Group declined to comment. Antonio Freitas, a spokesman for Angola’s state-owned diamond company Endiama EP in Luanda, and Ari de Almeida, commercial director for Sodiam, didn’t respond to e-mailed requests for comment, Bloomberg reported.

Angola has been taking steps to encourage foreign investors to explore and mine its diamonds.

Angolan law requires diamond miners to establish operations together with state-owned diamond company Endiama and then sell rough goods via Endiama subsidiary Sodiam.

The 2013 Bain & Co. report estimated Angola’s diamond reserves at around 200 million carats. Only Canada, South Africa and Russia have more.