Lucapa Diamond Company, Nominee for Established ESG Leader for a Resources Producer, 2024 Africa Awards

About the Nominee & their Nomination

Lucapa’s vision is to become a pre-eminent mid-tier diamond company with multiple assets, vertically integrating through the supply chain, to bring greater value to all stakeholders.

Its portfolio of assets includes a diamond mine in Angola, a mine-development project in Australia and exploration assets in Africa and Australia.

Its mine in Angola is the Lulo Alluvial Mine. Lulo is world renowned for producing exceptional, large, high-value diamonds which attract the highest price per carat for alluvial diamonds globally.

Lulo lies in Angola’s diamond heartland of Lunda Norte, 630km east of the capital, Luanda. The 3000 km2 concession is one of the world’s most prolific alluvial diamond fields. 

Commercial production at Lulo Alluvial Mine commenced in 2015 through the alluvial mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML).  SML is a partnership between Lucapa Diamonds (40%) and Angola’s Endiama (32%) and private Angolan company Rosas & Petalas (28%).

Lulo regularly produces large, premium Type IIa diamonds. To date, more than 35 +100 carat diamonds have been recovered from Lulo.

Initiative: Diamonds Do Good: Self-Sufficient School in The Heart of Angola’s Diamond Province

In 2021, the operators of the mine upgraded a health facility in the village and built a new clinic on the mine site to be utilised by mine workers and their families. Mine workers were appreciative of the fact they and their families had access to health care, however access to quality education in the area was lacking. 

The schools were run down due to lack of investment following the Angolan civil war. It was difficult to attract teachers and as a result education in the younger generation was suffering. The mine operators held a community consultation process which involved the mine workers and community members from the surrounding villages, with overwhelming support received for a new state of the art school.

The local municipality donated the land and SML committed more than US$2m to build the school in the closest village to the mine Xamiquelengue.

A new, self-sufficient school was built to accommodate more than 980 students from year 1 to year 7 attending school in two shifts, morning and afternoon. There’s a total staff of 18 at the school including the principal, deputy, administrator and teachers.

What makes it innovative it that it is completely off grid and provides clean, modern educational facilities to children from remote Angolan villages so that they don’t have to travel far for education.

Highlights

The Complexo Escolar do Cacuilio school was formally opened by the regional governor in November 2023 after more than 18 months of planning and construction. Senior representatives from SML and Lucapa attended the opening in the Lunde Norte region of Angola. 

The school is designed to be self-sufficient as it is equipped with: 

• a 5kW solar power plant
• water supply mains with borehole, submersible pump, 3,000L raised tank and distribution network
• sewage system with septic tank
• exterior lighting with automatic photovoltaic light fittings

The school building (815 m² built area) is designed to ensure the best conditions for students and teachers and consists of: 

• 8 classrooms of 51m²
• 1 room for teachers of 51 m²
• office area with respective WCs
• WC for boys and girls and disabled people
• storage room.
• A 3m wide corridor is provided to improve the circulation of students. The shape of the windows ensures better lighting in the classrooms. 
• A 25m x 15m multipurpose field, with fencing, crushed rubber flooring and lighting was installed for physical activity.
• A security gate is set up at the main entrance.