Nigerian-based Alpha Petroleum has announced that it has secured a N$3.5 billion (US$200 million) diamond mining contract in Namibia with Namdeb.
Alpha Petroleum said the contract, awarded by Namdeb, a joint venture between the Namibian government and De Beers Group, will see it begin operations on October 1, 2024.
This is Alpha Petroleum’s first major contract in Namibia, granting the company rights to mine within specified areas of Namdeb’s offshore sea mining licence.
The venture is expected to yield between 30,000 and 60,000 carats annually.
Alpha Petroleum said it will deploy a state-of-the-art shallow water mining vessel to extract and process diamondiferous gravels, with the recovered diamonds to be delivered monthly to the Contractor’s Treatment Facility in Luderitz.
“We’re proud to have won this competitive bid and are ready to execute the largest diamond mining project in Namibia, significantly impacting the African continent,” Founder and CEO of Alpha Energy Resources, Babajide Agunbiade said.
The project by the Nigerian company which specializes in both shallow and deep marine mining, is expected to drive economic growth in Namibia, particularly in the Halifax Island and Kerbehuk mining zones
