In November 1994, Angola celebrated the signing of a peace agreement that would stop the civil strife begun in 1975. In January 1995, a technical team from Endiama, Angola’s state-owned diamond company, arrived in Saurimo, the capital of Lunda Sul Province, to do preliminary work at the Catoca kimberlite, a complex system of diamond-bearing rock. The newly formed Sociedade Mineira de Catoca’s first steps were surveying and conducting hydrogeological studies, and recruiting and training local workers.

The region was first studied in 1965 by Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang) when the area was exploited by artisanal mining. In the 80s, Endiama was formed to replace Diamang and continued with feasibility studies for the commercial exploitation of the kimberlite.

After signing a partnership agreement with Russia’s Alrosa S.A. to form a mining company in 1993, Endiama decided to seek a new partner to take over the management of the project. “We had the technology the Soviets introduced, but there were shortcomings in management and administration. Odebrecht was building the Capanda hydropower plant and had been working in Angola for nearly a decade, so we decided to bring them on board,” says Ganga Júnior, then the Endiama director in charge of mining and now Director General of Sociedade Mineira de Catoca.

Odebrecht Angola Mining Director Júlio Cruz recalls that the company’s initial operations demonstrated the Organization’s staunch confidence in Angola’s future. “Catoca’s main asset is the knowledge its members have accumulated over the course of 15 years. This is the decisive factor for surmounting the next challenge, which is increasing production.”

Also known as “mother rock for diamonds,” kimberlites are complex rock formations of volcanic origin produced by magma that did not overflow. Eruptions formed outcrops on the earth’s surface, where the magma cooled and remained for thousands of years. Their classic shape is known as a “chimney,” something like an inverted cone. Kimberlites are mined on the surface and at depths of up to 600 meters. The dimensions of the Catocakimberlite are 900 m x 915 m.

The company’s facilities and the town that would house its members were built amid resumed civil conflict. In addition to their daily activities, the workers were always on the lookout for any unusual activity in the kimberlite area. “The war gave us a constructive spirit. We were confident and never retreated,” says João Salvador, Head of the Personnel Department. Catoca was the only mining operation that was not invaded during that period.

In 1997, the year when the first processing plant went online, an Israeli firm, Daumonty Financing BV (now the Lev Leviev Group) became a partner in the company. “Together, Endiama, Alrosa, Lev Leviev and Odebrecht contribute the strong points of each company and culture,” observes Ganga Júnior.

Thanks to constant technological advances, from 1997 to 2003 the mining company’s ore processing capacity rose from 1.8 million to 4 million metric tons per year. The head of the Mining Planning Division, Rômulo Angelino Mucase, took part in the development of those processes, which intensified in 2005, when the second processing plant went online. Romulo joined Sociedade Mineira de Catoca in 2001, after winning the Odebrecht Engineering Award. He says that mining engineering is an art. “It’s the art of extracting subsoil resources and making them available to the company in a responsible fashion,” he explains.

In addition to focusing on technological innovation, the company runs a professional development training center in the town where its members live.

Joining forces
In 2009, the turbulence in the global economy reduced production and sales figures. According to Ganga Júnior, “We have kept on the workforce, which is our most important asset, and restructured in a transparent manner. We reached maximum capacity in the first months of 2010.”

Antonio Carlos Sumbula, Chairman of Endiama, observes that the company is showing positive financial and operational results. “Despite the crises the industry has experienced, this company is a national and international benchmark due to its expertise, effiency and profitability.”

The School Snack Program

Sociedade Mineira de Catoca is the fourth-largest diamong mining company in the world and the fifth-largest company in Angola. “We have 2,340 workers from several countries,” says César Marianetti Braga, an Odebrecht Member and the mining company’s Human Resources and Administration Director.