Billionaire’s Diamond Deal May Spur Interest in Angola

Bloomberg reported that Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev has made a deal with Angola that will allow him to charge more for the diamonds mined at his Luminas mine. Essentially, he will be able to sell the gems on world markets rather than selling them to specific traders from China and Dubai.

The news outlet speculates that the move may renew other miners’ interest in Angola.

As quoted in the market news:

The deal may allow Leviev to raise prices by as much as 50 percent, according to two of the people. Stones from Catoca, the world’s fourth-biggest mine, are sold through Angola’s Sodiam state marketing unit to preferred buyers at an average of about $100 a carat, while they can fetch about $150 on the world diamond market, they 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.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg article.