Russian PJSC Alrosa, the largest diamond mining company, has withdrawn from the project in Angola due to sanctions.
The largest mining company in Angola, Catoca, which engages in the exploration, production and sale of rough diamonds, replaced its Russian shareholder with a co-owner from Oman.
According to the shareholder structure available on the company’s website, Taadeen (a subsidiary of Sovereign Wealth Fund of Oman), now owns 41% of Catoca.
This share previously belonged to Russian Alrosa. Endiama EP, Angola’s national diamond company, owns the remaining 59%.
In 2024, Catoka’s diamond production was about 7 million carats and Alrosa Group accounted for about 31% (105.2 million carat) of global production according to preliminary estimates.
In January 2024, EU imposed sanctions on Alrosa and its CEO, Pavel Marinychev. The European Union justified these sanctions by stating that the company had long-standing partnerships with the Russian armed forces, having sponsored a submarine for the Russian navy since 1997.
In September 2024, the Angolan government offered Alrosa a way to bypass sanctions. The ambassador of the Republic of Angola in Russia, Augusto da Silva Cunha, said this to the Russian news agency TASS. But judging by the changes in Catoca’s shareholders, the plan did not work.
Alrosa employs 35,000 people and is a publicly traded company whose shares trade on the Moscow stock exchange (ticker: ALRS). About 34% of shares are in free circulation and belong to the Russian state and the Republic of Sakha.
