Diamang
The Diamang ( Companhia de Diamantes de Angola ) was a company that dealt with the diamond mining in Angola until 1986 . The founder and president of the company was the Portuguese Comandante Ernesto Vilhena.
The history of diamond production in Angola began on October 16, 1917 with the creation of Diamang, a company founded with mixed capital by financial groups in Portugal , Belgium , USA , England and South Africa . Diamang has been ruled by the South African De Beers group from the start .
Diamang was involved in the financing of barracks and military stations in 1961 and 1962 and in 1962 also made a sum of 88.6 million Portuguese escudos available for the colonial war that was beginning .
The first diamond discoveries were made very early around 1590, which were then confirmed in 1909 by the geologist Narcise Janot . The first gemstones were found in a river in Lunda Norte Province . At that time, Angola was still part of Portugal and was considered an overseas province . In 1981, six years after independence from 1975, the Angolan authorities had gained full control of diamond mining in the country and established their own diamond company by founding Endiama , which had replaced Diamang as a company in 1986.