LUANDA, FEB 7: Angola's civil war has not interrupted production by the Catoca diamond company and production is expected to grow this year and next, a senior company official said."We are producing around 80,000-90,000 carats a month and we hope production will grow to 1.2 million carats in 1999 and 1.5 million in 2000," Marcelo Gomes, Catoca's director of administration, told Reuters.
The company mines diamonds from the Catoca kimberlite pipe 35 km (22 miles) South of the northeastern town of Saurimo.
The pipe is the world's fourth largest in terms of surface area and constitutes the single largest diamond operation in Angola in terms of production value.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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