LUANDA, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Angola's largest diamond exploitation mine Catoca mining society has raised 280 million U.S. dollars with the sale of 2.9 million carats of diamonds in the first half of this year, its head of production and technical control department Romulo Mucase said on Wednesday.

Mucase said the amount represents an increase of 81 percent, compared to the same period of 2020, which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The critical phase of the pandemic, in 2020, forced the dismissal of 70 percent of the workforce, a fact that compromised production that year," Mucase said.

Currently, the mine expects to raise production levels in the second half of this year thanks to the lifting of some measures to combat COVID-19, the mining official said.

Catoca, the world's fourth largest open-pit mine, extracts more than 75 percent of diamonds in Angola, which has 12 mining projects in operation. Enditem

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