Mining in Angola is an activity with great economic potential since the country has one of the largest and most diversified
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
resources of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
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, religion_year = 2020
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, coordina ...
is the third largest producer of
diamond
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...
s in Africa and has only explored 40% of the diamond-rich territory within the country, but has had difficulty in attracting foreign investment because of corruption, human rights violations, and diamond smuggling.
[Angola: U.S. Must Strengthen Ties to Protect Strategic Energy and Security Interests](_blank)
Council on Foreign Relations via AllAfrica Production rose by 30% in 2006 and
Endiama, the national diamond company of Angola, expects production to increase by 8% in 2007 to annually. The government is trying to attract foreign companies to the
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Bié,
Malanje
Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola, with a population of 455,000 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 506,847 (2014 census). Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent be ...
and
UÃge
UÃge ( kg, Wizidi), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern Angola, with a population of 322,531 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 519,196 (2014 census), located in the province of the same name. I ...
.
[Angola wants foreign investors for diamond sector](_blank)
, July 26, 2007. Reuters Angola has also historically been a major producer of
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
ore.
Angola's history in brief
The Portuguese arrived 1475 at the coast of what today is Angola. Until the 19th century, they practically remained confined to the bridgeheads of
Luanda
Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...
,
Benguela and
Moçâmedes
Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola, capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese colonial administration, the city was named Namibe between 1985 and 2016. Moçà ...
and their
hinterland
Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...
. They used these vantage points in order to play a pivotal role in the
Atlantic slave trade: until 1830 well over a million Angolan people were exported as slaves, mainly to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, but also to the
Caribbean and
North America. They obtained slaves through raiding, but mostly by buying them from key figures in the African kingdoms east of Luanda. Territorial conquests were hesitantly attempted during the 19th century, but the occupation of what then became Angola was not achieved until the 1920s. Under Portuguese colonial rule in Angola, cities, towns and villages were founded, railroads were opened, ports built, and a
Westernized
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...
society was being gradually developed. Since the 1920s, Portugal's administration has showed an increasing interest in developing the country's economy and social infrastructure.
[More Power to the People, 2006.]
In 1956 the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...
) began to fight Portuguese rule and the forced labor camps where the Portuguese were confining many Africans. Many of them were relocated from their homes.
British Broadcasting Company, January 2008.BBC News In 1974 the
Carnation Revolution in Portugal caused the
Estado Novo regime to collapse, and Angola become independent from Portugal in 1975.
Jonas Savimbi’s
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
movement began fighting his political rivals soon after independence and gained the support of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
because of his rivals' ties to
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
and
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
The MPLA leader
Agostinho Neto
António Agostinho da Silva Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) ...
declared himself president of the country with the backing of Cuba and founded a Marxist–Leninist inspired regime.
After Neto died in 1979,
José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for ...
became his successor. Unrest and civil war ensued for the next 27 years between UNITA and the MPLA. But in the early 1990s UNITA lost the support of both the United States and South Africa because of UNITA's refusal to accept a settlement that implied their peaceful integration in the multi-party system introduced by the MPLA in 1991.
The Forgotten Tragedy, "Journal of Southern African Studies".20:2.p.241-262,1994. Cuba also pulled out of the civil war leaving the MPLA and Unita to fight each other without the support of world powers.
During the war the diamond mines were constantly being fought over, making it unsafe for miners to work, and usually after the mine was re-taken by the other side there would be land mines planted everywhere.
[Munslow, Barry "The Politics of Unsustainable Development", Third World Quarterly,20:3.p.551-568,1999] This made it difficult to extract the diamonds but did not prevent either the MPLA or UNITA from using the diamonds to help fund the war.
The vast amount of diamonds and oil to be mined could have funded the civil war for another 27 years, but UNITA leader Savimbi was killed by MPLA soldiers in 2002. This led to an almost-immediate ceasefire.
Diamonds
Although there are some reports of diamond exports from Angola by the Portuguese as early as the eighteenth century, modern industrial diamond mining as we know it today began in 1912, when gems were discovered in a stream in
Lunda Norte, Lunda region in the northeast. In 1917
Diamang was granted the concession for diamond mining and prospecting, which it held until independence. The government obtained control of the company in 1977. A general law on mining activities (Law 5/79) enacted in April 1979 gave the state the exclusive right to prospect for and exploit minerals. Accordingly, a state diamond-mining enterprise, the National Diamond Company (Emprêsa Nacional de Diamantes--
Endiama), was founded in 1981 and acquired the government's 77 percent share in Diamand.
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
selected the diamond mining industry as a principal target, and soon crippled mining efforts. The two foreign companies involved in servicing and operating the industry pulled out of Angola by 1986 and mid-1986 Diamang was formally dissolved, leaving large outstanding debts.
[Clark, Nancy. "Diamonds"]
''Angola country study''
. Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Federal Research Division
The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress.
The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unit ...
(February 1989). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.''
Attacks by UNITA on mining centers, disruption of transport routes, and widespread theft and smuggling caused diamond sales to fall to US$33 million by 1985 and to an estimated US$15 million in 1986.
In late 1986, Roan Selection Trust (RST) International, a subsidiary of the Luxembourg-registered holding company
ITM International, began mining in the
Cafunfo
Cafunfo is a town, with a population of 90,000 (2014),Citypopulation.de
Population of cities & urban localities in ...
area, along the
Cuango River, the site of Angola's most valuable
alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...
diamond deposits (see fig. 9). Mining had been halted there for more than two years after UNITA attacked the mining camp in February 1984, kidnapping seventy-seven expatriate workers and severely damaging the mining equipment. After the subsequent kidnapping of a British expatriate in November 1986, defense forces in the area were strengthened, allowing the resumption of mining operations. In 1987 production there averaged , and about were produced in the other two mining areas, Andrada and Lucapa. By 1987 diamond production had risen to , compared with less than produced in 1986. The 1987 figure, however, was still not much more than 1985 production and only a little over half of 1980 output (see table 9, Appendix A).
[
This increase in production has benefited from the rise in the price per carat received for Angolan diamonds. The resumption of mining in the area along the Cuango River and fewer thefts of higher-value stones in the Andrada and ]Lucapa
Lucapa is a town, with a population of 110,000 (2014 census)Citypopulation.de
Population of the major cities in ...
areas have increased output (measured by value). Furthermore, Endiama, which oversees the industry and holds monthly sales, has benefited from overall improvement in the world diamond market as well as dealers' willingness to pay higher prices in the hope of securing favored treatment in the future. As a result, average carat value established by the monthly sales in 1987 exceeded US$110, more than twice as much as in 1985 (US$45) and at its highest level since 1981 (US$119).[
In 1987 Endiama signed a two-year mining contract with the Portuguese Enterprises Corporation ( Sociedade Portuguesa de Empreendimentos (SPE), a Portuguese company that hired many Portuguese technicians previously employed by Diamang. Former Diamang shareholders founded SPE in 1979 after Diamang's nationalization. The precise terms of the contract were not made public, but it was thought that the company would undertake new prospecting, which had been at a virtual standstill since independence. Through a subsidiary, the SPE also was to help Endiama with diamond valuation, which a British company had previously been carrying out. In December 1987, Angola also signed an agreement with the Soviet Union to cooperate in mining diamonds and quartz. Under the terms of the agreement, the Soviet Union was to participate in mining enterprises and was to draw up a detailed geological map of Angola.][
In 1987 the government also began to revise the 1979 mining law to encourage new companies to invest in the diamond-mining industry, and to resume prospecting in particular. Among the companies believed to be considering investing in 1988 was Britain's ]Lonrho
Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services.
History
Lonrho ...
conglomerate, which had taken an increasingly active interest in Angola in the late 1980s. The South African diamond-mining giant DeBeers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and ...
also took an interest after it lost its exclusive marketing rights for Angolan diamonds at the end of 1985 because of government suspicions that DeBeers had low-balled the valuation of Angolan diamonds. DeBeers expressed interest in studying the kimberlite pipes
Volcanic pipes or volcanic conduits are subterranean geological structures formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of deep-origin volcanoes. They are considered to be a type of ''diatreme''. Volcanic pipes are composed of a deep, narrow cone o ...
, deep subsurface deposits which, because of the depletion of the alluvial deposits, were thought to represent the future of the Angolan diamond industry.[
Angola is the third-largest producer of diamonds in Africa and has still only explored 40% of the diamond-rich territory within the country, but has had difficulty in attracting foreign investment because of corruption, human rights violations, and diamond smuggling.] Production rose by 30% in 2006 and Endiama, the national diamond company of Angola, expects production to increase by 8% in 2007 to annually. The government is trying to attract foreign companies to the provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Bié, Malanje
Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola, with a population of 455,000 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 506,847 (2014 census). Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent be ...
and UÃge
UÃge ( kg, Wizidi), formerly Carmona, is a provincial capital city in northwestern Angola, with a population of 322,531 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 519,196 (2014 census), located in the province of the same name. I ...
.
The Angolan government loses $375 million annually from diamond smuggling. In 2003 the government began Operation Brilliant, an anti-smuggling investigation that arrested and deported 250,000 smugglers between 2003 and 2006. Rafael Marques, a journalist and human rights activist, described the diamond industry in his 2006 ''Angola's Deadly Diamonds'' report as plagued by "murders, beatings, arbitrary detentions and other human rights violations." Marques called on foreign countries to boycott Angola's "conflict diamonds
''Blood Diamond'' is a 2006 American political war action thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mi ...
."[Angola to double diamond production in 2006](_blank)
Afrol News
Environmental impacts of diamond mining
In Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
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, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
, diamonds are the second leading export for the country behind oil. But their extraction causes harm to plants, water, and soil. Of the two primary methods of diamond extraction (kimberlite
Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond called the Star of S ...
pipe mining and alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...
mining), pipe mining has more impact. Large sections of rock are removed by heavy machinery and hauled away to screening plants where they are searched for diamonds. For the machines and trucks to navigate, roads must be built, segregating the land. Catoca diamond mine
The Catoca list of diamond mines, diamond mine is the fourth largest diamond mining, mine in the world, and is located in Angola. The mine was owned by a consortium of international mining interests, including Endiama (the state mining company o ...
() did take issues of environmental impact into consideration when building. It is said that this particular mine holds about worth of reserves.["Angola - Mining: Diamond Mining." MBendi. 7 Jan. 2007. 14 May 2008 <>] Other mines, however, were not designed to reduce environmental impacts. Aside from removing of massive amounts of land for mining purposed, the practice also leaches the soil of nutrients when diamond extraction takes place.
Pipe mining affects the local flora through road-building; forests are disrupted when machinery uproots trees to make roadways to the mines. It is estimated that about one ton of earth must be removed in order to produce less than , and that soon the Catoca diamond mine will produce up to annually, which will translate to almost of earth removed each year. Once land is disrupted in this way, it is very difficult for vegetation to re-grow.[Gordon, Christine. "Diamond Industry Annual Review: Republic of Angola 2005." AfricaFiles. 1 Sept. 2005. Partnership Africa Canada. 10 May 2008 .]
Water quality is negatively affected by alluvial mining. Many rivers are diverted so that mines can be exposed; canals are created and short sections of the river are dammed. Although rivers can be returned to their natural state after mining, they are typically abandoned and left in the same condition they were in when they were in production. Soil deposits affect water quality as the land is unearthed. The water becomes clouded by sediment, polluting drinking water for animals. Oil and chemicals from the pipe mines seep into the ground and into the water supply.
In places where water is already scarce, it is important to keep the water they do have in good drinkable condition.
Mining policies
Many environmental policies have been enacted over the past two decades due to the threat that mining poses to ecosystems and biodiversity in many regions in the world. Angola is located in one of the five most threatened hotspots in the world. The Congolean forest that is being endangered due to poor mining practices Agenda 21: 1992 Earth Summit asked transnational companies to reduce environmental damage and developed countries to begin sustainable consumption
Sustainable consumption (sometimes abbreviated to "SC") is the use of products and services in ways that minimize impacts on the environment in order for human needs to be met in the present but also for future generations. Sustainable consumption ...
.[Finger, A. "Metals from the Forest: Mining and Forest Degradation."IUCN, WWF. 1999. Intergovernmental Forum on Forest's Intersessional Meeting on Underlying Causes on Forest Loss and Degradation. Costa Rica. 5 June 2008 .] Convention on Biological Diversity: Articles that were created to prevent and respond to activities and impacts that threaten biodiversity. Intergovernmental Panel on Forests: National forest program that addresses industrial development, agriculture, and energy to avoid bad policy choices that could affect forests negatively such as mining. Berlin Guidelines: UN Department of Technical Co-operation for Development, stresses environmental stewardship in mining. UNCTAD: A project that integrates mining activity with planning for a sustainable future.
Angola's economic development after the civil war
Due to Angola's vast quantity of natural resources, its GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
is currently growing at a rate of 16.3%.
Central Intelligence Agency. 2008. The growth that has occurred is due to the civil war finally being over, which has allowed American companies to come here to the country to set up oil drills and open new diamond mines. But the economic growth of the country is not spreading to stimulate development in the population 65% of whom live on one dollar a day. There are also millions of refugees and former Unita and MPLA soldiers living in camps across the country with malaria and dysentery widespread.
Development for the future
To provide sustainable jobs and income for the millions of displaced Angolan people will involve developing agriculture and industry that does not rely on non-renewable resources. The price of diamonds dropped after large mines opened in Russia and China. Oil is not owned by the people, with uneven allocation of funds occurring between politicians and oil companies. Angola has large rivers and delta regions, which potentially could be dammed to create electricity for export to neighboring countries.
Iron ore
Once a major export, iron ore was no longer being mined in Angola by the late 1980s, because of attendant security and transportation problems. From the mid-1950s to 1975, iron ore was mined in Malanje
Malanje is the capital city of Malanje Province in Angola, with a population of 455,000 (2014 census), and a municipality, with a population of 506,847 (2014 census). Projected to be the thirteenth fastest growing city on the African continent be ...
, Bié Province
Bié is a province of Angola located on the Bié Plateau in central part of country. Its capital is Kuito, which was called Silva Porto until independence from Portugal in 1975. The province has an area of and a population of 1,455,255 in 2014. ...
, Huambo
Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (English: ''New Lisbon''), is the third-most populous city in Angola, after the capital city Luanda and Lubango, with a population of 595,304 in the city and a population of 713,134 in the municipality of Huambo (Cens ...
, and HuÃla provinces, and production reached an average of 5.7 million tons per year between 1970 and 1974. Most of the iron ore was shipped to Japan, West Germany, and Britain; it earned almost US$50 million a year in export revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
. After independence, the government established a state company, the National Iron Ore Company of Angola (Emprêsa Nacional de Ferro de Angola—Ferrangol), for exploration and mining, processing, and marketing of iron ore. Ferrangol contracted with Austromineral, an Austrian company, to repair its facilities and organize production in Cassinga
Cassinga or Kassinga is a town and commune in the municipality of Jamba, province of HuÃla, Angola.
It is situated on an old and important two-track road from Jamba to Huambo.
Established as an ore mine and during the Civil War allegedly u ...
in HuÃla Province
HuÃla is a province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 2,497,422 (2014 census). Lubango is the capital of the province. Basket-making is a significant industry in the province; many make baskets out of reeds.
History
From the Port ...
. Production began to slow in 1974 as a result of technical problems at the Cassinga mine and stopped completely in August 1975. The area fell under foreign control when South African forces invaded in 1975. Although South Africa withdrew its troops in early 1976, as of 1988 mining had not resumed in the area.[
]
By 1988 the Cassinga mines had a production capacity Productive capacity is the maximum possible output of an economy. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), no agreed-upon definition of maximum output exists. UNCTAD itself proposes: "the productive ''resources' ...
of approximately 1.1 million tons per year. However, the railroad to the port of Moçâmedes
Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola, capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese colonial administration, the city was named Namibe between 1985 and 2016. Moçà ...
(then called Namibe) needed extensive repair, and since it was located only 310 kilometers north of the Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
n border, security against South African attacks could not be ensured. Furthermore, UNITA was active in the area and posed a threat to the rail line if it were repaired. Even supposing these problems could be resolved, production of iron ore at Cassinga would be costly in view of the depressed state of the world steel market in the late 1980s.[
]
Other minerals
Angola is also rich in several other mineral resources that had not been fully exploited by the early twenty- first century . These include manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
, copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
, phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...
s, granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
, uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
, quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, wolfram, tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, fluorite
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
The Mohs sca ...
, sulfur, feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) felds ...
, kaolin
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...
, mica, asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
, gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
, and talc
Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent a ...
. The government hopes to resume mining in the southwest for crystalline quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
and ornamental marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
. It has been estimated that 5,000 cubic meters of marble could be extracted annually for a period of twenty years. A state-owned company mined granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
and marble in HuÃla and Namibe Province
Namibe Province is a province of Angola. Under Portuguese rule it was the Moçâmedes District. It has an area of 57,091 km2 and had a 2014 census population of 495,326. The port and city of Moçâmedes is the capital of the province with a ...
s, and in 1983 it produced 4,450 cubic meters of granite and 500 cubic meters of marble. Since then, the company has ceased production in order to re-tool with modern machinery. Quartz production, however, was suspended indefinitely because of the military situation in areas near the extraction sites in Cuanza Sul Province
Cuanza Sul Province ("South Cuanza"; Umbundu: Kwanza Kombuelo Volupale) is a province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 1,881,873. Sumbe is the capital of the province. Don founded the province in 1769 as Novo Redondo.
Histo ...
.[Clark, Nancy. "Other Minerals"]
''Angola country study''
. Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Federal Research Division
The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress.
The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unit ...
(February 1989). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.''
The government established a company in 1980 to exploit phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...
deposits in the northwest. There were 50 million tons of deposits in Zaire Province
Zaire ( pt, Zaire, french: Zaïre, kg, Nzadi) is one of the 18 provinces of Angola. It occupies in the north west of the country and had a population of 594,428 inhabitants in 2014. It is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the nor ...
and about 100 million tons in Cabinda. Although studies of the deposits in both locations have been made by Bulgarian and Yugoslav companies, as of 1988 production had not started at either site.[
]
See also
References
{{Angola topics
01
Economy of Angola
Geology of Angola
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...