Angola set to award contracts for geological survey

Angola, one of Africa's potential mining giants, is expected within a month to award contracts for a long-awaited comprehensive geological survey of the country, which will map its resources in a move to boost mining investment.

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Geology, Mines and Industry Minister Joaquim Duarte da Costa David - a former boss of state oil firm Sonangol appointed to boost revenue from mining and help diversify the economy - said the survey itself, seen by the country as the necessary base for its mining strategy, would take three to five years.

"We will have a better understanding of the country's geological potential, which should allow us to have a better dialogue with companies," he told Reuters, on the sidelines of an industry conference in South Africa.

Neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, whose potential has been a repeated topic of conversation at the week-long Cape Town conference, had its geology mapped and studied under Belgian colonial rule, but Angola, focused on oil in recent decades, has a far more limited understanding of its mining promise beyond diamonds.

The government, which is receiving outside advice on the tender process, said it had received four or five offers from companies hoping to work on the survey and planned to divide the country into four with the hope of speeding up the work.