The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, said Wednesday in Luanda that Angola’s first gold refinery could be completed this year.

The infrastructure, which is being built at the Viana Industrial Estate, the foundation stone of which was laid in June 2022, is the result of the Angolan government’s commitment to promote the country’s mineral value chain, capitalizing on the prospecting, exploration, processing and marketing of these resources.

Speaking during the New Year’s greetings ceremony, the minister assured that the sector would restructure stalled projects and develop gold refining capacity.

The country’s first gold refinery is an initiative of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, through Geoangol, a company owned by ENDIAMA, which is expected to generate more than 80 jobs.

Alongside this venture, Angola has 28 gold projects, 20 of which are in the prospecting phase and eight with exploration titles.

In 2021, 1,137 ounces were extracted, of the 7,500 projected, representing an execution rate of 13.82 percent, according to data from MIREMPET’s Studies, Planning and Statistics Office.

The country’s gold subsector has invested 62.9 million dollars, of which 48.6 million dollars in exploration and 14.3 million dollars in prospecting.