State-owned Angolan diamond mining company, Endiama, has unveiled its new glittering US$40 million four star hotel in the capital Luanda. The hotel is called”The Diamond”.

The Diamond hotel, located in central Luanda near Avenida Marginal, has 179 rooms, eight meeting rooms of different capacities and an auditorium to accommodate 300 people. It also accommodates several restaurants, a gym, a beauty salon and a pool.

Endiama chairman, Antonio Carlos Sumbula, said “the company’s plans to invest outside its primary activity is based on the fact that diamonds are a non-renewable resource, and the company is therefore keen to invest in areas other than mining.”

Endiama is the national diamond company of Angola and it is exclusive concessionary of mining rights in the domain of diamonds. It produced 8.55 million carats of diamonds in 2010.

Angola is the third largest producer of diamonds in Africa and has only explored 40 percent of the diamond-rich territory within the country. But has had difficulties attracting foreign investment because of corruption, human rights violations, and diamond smuggling.

By George Mpofu

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