The largest investment company in Sierra Leone’s diamond mining sector, Koidu Limited, formerly known as Koidu Holdings, has been taken over by OCTEA Diamond Group. The new owners have unveiled a new 180-tonnes-per-hour processing plant which is expected to boost diamond output in the country four-folds and more than double the annual export of the sparkling stones. Full supplement follows:
OCTEA Diamond Group takes over Koidu Limited
The largest investors in Sierra Leone’s diamond mining sector, Koidu Limited, formerly known as Koidu Holdings, has been taken over by OCTEA Diamond Group.
The launch happened at the mining site in the eastern Kono district last week when Minister of Mineral Resources, Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray cut the ribbon to officially launch the OCTEA Diamond Group at their flagship operations – the Koidu Diamond Mines in Kono district. The ceremony also witnessed the unveiling of the new 180-tonne per hour processing plant which is expected to boost diamond output in the country four-folds.
The Mineral Resources Minister Mansaray said the country’s economy was poised to record a record 35% growth rate which he attributed largely to “the mining industry and the contributions of companies like Koidu Holdings”. He described the launch of the plant as an “indescribable and simply remarkable” achievement, adding that the watershed event represented what could be achieved with committed shareholders “a dedicated management team and a professional workforce”.
The new plant completed which the minister said was completed in a record time of 11 months would change the fortunes in the diamond mining sector and would enable the company meet its new monthly projected target of 45,000 carats which will more than double the country’s annual diamond export.
“They have over the years demonstrated a knack for doing what they say, so their ratings with us are very high and we are looking forward to doing business with them for the longest time” the minister said of the diamond miner. He said KHL was the first to take the huge risk of investing in the country after the war. He said the good that diamonds represented would be felt by the country more than ever especially with the new development.
In a pre-recorded video message, President Ernest Bai Koroma said that the country had been blessed with huge mineral wealth but that a lot would depend on the management of such wealth for the future prosperity of the people.
He lauded the efforts of OCTEA Diamond Group and congratulated them for “nurturing the diamond sector...in Sierra Leone in a way that mirrors government’s commitment to true development partnership and in accordance with international best practices.”
Beaming with smile, the Chief Executive Officer of OCTEA Diamond Group, Jan Joubert said they were committed to investing in the country for the long-term even beyond what they had initially intended. He said the global economic meltdown some four years ago, among various other factors, had put them on the road to establish the 180-tonne per hour processing plant. This would boost their diamond output from 10,000 carats to 45,000 carats per month doubling the country’s overall annual diamond exports from 450,000 carats to about one million carats.
Joubert said that he felt a huge sense of pride and achievement in having built “a world class diamond mine” in Sierra Leone, “knowing the positive impact this will have on the local community and the country at large.”
He referred to the occasion as an “enormous milestone” in their journey in Kono which started almost ten years ago. Despite the feat, he said “this is just the beginning! Our vision reaches far beyond what we have achieved at Koidu today”. He challenged that the company must sustain its growth.
The CEO said that in the next five years OCTEA would have invested between $ 600 million and $ 1 billion in Sierra Leone’s mining sector, “subject to market conditions”.
“We expect ... to grow our business at least five-folds and become a key player in the luxury brand supply chain” he said, adding: “We want to be the company to invest in. We want to be the company to work for. We want to be the company to host. We want to be the company to do business with”.
OCTEA Diamond group, which derived its name from the octahedral diamonds characteristic of diamond deposits in Sierra Leone, has four wholly-owned subsidiaries – OCTEA Mining Limited, OCTEA Diamonds Limited, OCTEA Services Limited and OCTEA Foundation.
