No. Once you are registered, you will only be able to participate in competitive sales organised by SODIAM on behalf of Angolan producers.

Supply contracts are directly negotiated with and allocated by the producers, while SODIAM acts as the single channel to the market.

It is SODIAM’s corporate policy not to work with brokers or intermediaries.

Applications submitted via third parties shall not be considered and diamond companies that are approached by individuals or consulting firms claiming to be able to build relationships with SODIAM should disregard these offers and consider them as fraudulent.

Your application to SODIAM may be denied for the following reasons:

- You are not a member of any rough diamond trading bourse and actually do not belong to the rough diamond trading community;

- You have not met the minimum annual rough purchase threshold of US2m. for Angolan entities or US10m. for foreign entities;

- You have submitted false or inaccurate information in your application;

- You do not comply with our Terms and Conditions.

Only up to two company representatives may be granted access to the online platform and be able to submit bids. Those representatives must therefore be individuals who are legally authorised to take a financial commitment on behalf of the company.

Primary and secondary representatives should be registered with a different e-mail address.

Absolutely. Nevertheless, you should make sure that their name and date of birth are correctly encoded since a proof of identity will be required before being allowed to access the viewing room.

Please also note that you are legally responsible for any valuator you may bring to the inspection.

This means that the encoded shareholding percentage is either below 80%, or exceeding 100%.

The stakes owned by individuals and legal entities add up.

The Unique Identification Code (UIC) is a functionality offered to registered customers to enable them to transfer invoices from one registered company to another within the same shareholding structure or with the same ultimate beneficiaries.

The UIC is only automatically generated once you have been successfully registered and can be found on the top of the section 'Company details'. This means that if you are registering with us for the first time, you do not have a UIC yet.

Concretely, it works as follows: If you are registering Company B and have Company A already registered with us, you may then link both entities with the UIC provided that both companies are within the same shareholding structure or have the same ultimate beneficiaries.

Once the link is validated, if you then hypothetically win a lot through Company B, the UIC will allow you to pay from Company A, while maintaining the full traceability on the origin of the funds.

Please specify the contact person within your organisation responsible for proceeding payments. This contact person should not be your bank officer, nor your external accounting/auditing firm.

Please encode the bank account number, which is indicated on the corresponding bank reference letter.

No. Please only select the areas for which you have developed a particular know how, enjoy an established distribution network and have regular and stable demand.

No, unless the information provided is voluntarily false.

Nevertheless, please note that if you are not already a member of a rough diamond trading bourse or of a reputable trade organisation, your application will most likely be rejected.

No. If you do not have a supply contract of agreed committed purchases with any of those miners, you should tick ’none’.

A company organisational chart is a diagram that shows the structure of your company and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts.

If your company is part of a larger group, the chart should show the shareholder structure with percentages of holdings, including all subsidiary companies and beneficiaries.

If your company is a standalone entity, the chart should show the internal company structure with shareholding percentages and the different positions of the key individuals.

For examples of organisational charts, please search on the Internet through your web browser for "shareholding structure chart” or “organisational chart”.

You should first compress the file so that it does not exceed the maximum size limit.

Your computer should have an already built-in file compression application.

If not, you may use online applications by searching on the Internet through your web browser for “online file compression”. Small PDF (https://smallpdf.com/) is for instance a popular online tool.

Nationalities without visa requirement: Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Nationalities with visa requirement: All other countries.

You should apply for a tourist visa since business visas are not required to attend SODIAM viewings.

Please note that an invitation letter from SODIAM is not required to apply for a tourist visa. 

You may decide to apply online (smevisa.gov.ao) for electronic tourist visa upon arrival, or directly visit the nearest Angolan consulate.

- Electronic visa upon arrival cost +/-US$130, which must be paid when arriving at the International airport. Payment in euros is also accepted. Since the credit card terminal may occasionally be out of order, it is recommended to have cash at hand.

- Angolan consulates are located in the following cities close to the main diamond trading centres: Brussels, Delhi, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv. We invite you to contact the nearest one to your location and specifically enquire about the visa delivery time and supporting documents to provide.

During the online visa application process, you will be requested to list a local contact person at SODIAM. Please encode the following details:

Full name: Geraldo Henriques Florindo

Passport number: S0098057

Issue date: 07/04/2022

Expiry date: 07/04/2027

Address: SODIAM E.P. Rua Rainha Ginga 87, 7 Andar, Edifício Endiama De Beers, 1072 Luanda

Contact number: +244 923 447 302

Contact e-mail address: Geraldo.florindo @ sodiam.co.ao
 

Supporting documents for visa application usually include: 

- Passport (valid for more than six months with two consecutive blank sheets);

- Original certificate of vaccination against yellow fever (must be presented at border control in Luanda);

- Application form fully completed (in black ink in capital letters or typed, without erasures and signed);

- Two recent coloured passport-size pictures taken with a white background (width x height: 35mm x 45mm);

- Return journey travel itinerary (airline pre-booking);

- Proof of accommodation (hotel booking);

- Proof of means of subsistence equivalent to US$ 200.00 for each day of stay in Angola (current bank statement);

- Visa payment (variable fee depending on the consulate where the application is submitted, +/- $130).

You may schedule your attendance to our viewings by sending an e-mail at: 'booking @ sodiamsales.com'.

Room booking is done on a first-come / first-served basis given our limited room availability and viewing days are only from Monday to Friday, as our office is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Room booking is limited to one viewing slot per company, including its affiliated entities if applicable.

Only the valuators listed on your company profile are authorised to view the goods on your behalf.

Valuators are not allowed to inspect the goods a second time on behalf of another registered customer.

A maximum of four pre-registered valuators per company may attend a viewing cession at the same time.

Valuators will be requested to show a proof of identity while attending the viewings.

Customers are expected to conduct themselves in a business-like manner in their correspondence with SODIAM and during viewings.

Non-compliance with these rules or insistence to loosen them will result in the immediate dismissal of the registered company and its valuators.

Our office location is Rua Rainha Ginga 87, Edifício Endiama/De Beers, Luanda.

We advise customers to reach SODIAM building ahead of the appointment, as the security check to access our office takes approximately 15 minutes.

Passport control will be required at the entrance of the building and basic handbag search will also be conducted.

Only authorised valuators for each registered customer will be authorised to attend the viewings. 

You may leave cumbersome items in a secured room, even though your hotel baggage room might be more suitable for practical reasons.

Small suitcases and bags as well as mobile phones are not allowed in the viewing room and must be stored in lockers. 

You may carry with you computers and necessary diamond tools, but the use of whitener and black marking is strictly prohibited.

A copy and printing machine is available and WiFi access and refreshments are provided.

A mini supermarket and several reputable restaurants with vegetarian buffet are located within 300 metres from the building. We recommend:

- Restaurant Calhambeque (upscale cantine, including vegetarian food), Rua Rainha Ginga 147

- Bakery Delicias de Paris (sandwiches, French bakery), Rua Rainha Ginga 168

Upon arrival at the airport (angolaairport.net), you will be asked to show your vaccination certificate with the required yellow fever vaccination certificate.

No immigration form needs to be filled in.

If you enter the country with an electronic visa upon arrival, you must ask for guidance and do not need to queue for the passport control. If the police officer does not speak English, please say: “Visto eletrônico na chegada”. The verification process lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Electronic visa upon arrival costs +/- $130, which must be paid when arriving at the international airport. Payment in euros is also accepted. Since the credit card terminal may occasionally be out of order, it is recommended to have cash at hand.

Following the border control and your exit from the luggage collection area, the taxi journey to your hotel or to SODIAM will last from 15 up to 30 minutes in peak hours.

SODIAM does not coordinate car pickups. If you have not arranged a car pickup together with your hotel booking, you may take a local taxi, which should not cost more than US$25.

The taxi driver may accept payment in foreign currencies. If that is not the case, you will easily find a bureau de change in the airport’s arrivals lobby.

Direct flight connections with: Amsterdam, Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Lisbon, London, Paris, Porto

Connecting airlines: Air France, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Emirates, KLM, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola, TAP Portugal

Climate: tropical with temperatures rarely below 20°C, heavy rains in November and March/April

Time zone: GMT+1

Electrical plugs: 220V 50Hz (continental European)

Currency: Kwanza (AOA)

Country dialling code: + 244

Local mobile phone operator: Unitel (unitel.ao). Passport is required to buy a local SIM card. A Unitel store is located at the airport and next to SODIAM office.

Local mobile phone application for taxi services: Kubinga (kubinga.com), cash or credit card payment

Local mobile phone application for food delivery services: Tupuca (tupuca.com), cash or credit card payment

All recommended hotels are within 5-to-10 minute walking distance from SODIAM.

EPIC SANA (5 stars), luanda.epic.sanahotels.com

Rua da Missão, [email protected], +244 930 687 656

The nearest located hotel from SODIAM building. Offers world-class facilities, two swimming pools, a gym, a spa and three restaurants. 

HOTEL TRÓPICO (4 stars), www.tdhotels.com

Rua da Missão 103, [email protected], +244 222 670 100

Excellent value for money, even though a bit further than Epic Sana. Offers a buffet restaurant, a swimming pool, a spa, a gym and a squash court.

SKYNA HOTEL (3 stars), www.skynahotels.com

Rua de Portugal 29, [email protected], +244 222 670 900

Offers more affordable rates. Has a small lobby area, a basic gym and a buffet restaurant. No swimming pool.

Luanda is affected by malaria. Since if you are in the city for only two days, you might decide not to follow a preventive medial treatment. Hence, in order to reduce the risk of contamination during early evening and at night, we advise you to take the following precautions:

- Stay in areas that have effective air conditioning;

- Apply insect repellent on your skin;

- Wear loose-fitting trousers rather than shorts and shirts with long sleeves rather than polos.

Yellow fever vaccination is compulsory to travel to Angola and the certificate of vaccination must be shown at the border control.

Since 2016, the certificate of vaccination against yellow fever is valid for life of the person vaccinated and this lifetime validity applies to all existing and new certificates.

LUANDA MEDICAL CENTRE (opened from 8am until 10pm), www.lmc.co.ao

Rua Amilcar Cabral 3, +244 923 167 730

10-minute walking distance from SODIAM building and hotel district; 3 minutes by car.

This brand new clinic is owned and managed by the Israeli community. Doctors come from various international backgrounds and the facility possess the latest technologies.

FARMÁCIA CENTRAL (24/7 pharmacy)

Avenida Revolução de Outubro, +244 925 085 589

Located just next to the Luanda Medical Centre

CLÍNICA GIRASSOL (opened 24/7), www.clinicagirassol.co.ao

Comandante Gika 225, +244 226 698 415

10-minute drive from hotel district at night

Kosher

CHABAD LUBAVITCH, Rabbi Lévi Itshak Chekly, 'chabadangola @ gmail.com', +244 921 359 464, Whatsapp: +33 6 23 67 39 73

Vegetarian Indian

ANDY’S BROADWAY, Rua Albano Machado 88 (5-minute drive from hotel district), +244 921 565 656

MAHIR (less formal, more variety), Alameda Manuel Van-Dunem (5-minute drive from hotel district), +244 948 999 092

Local mobile phone application for taxi services: Kubinga (kubinga.com), cash or credit card payment

Local mobile phone application for food delivery services: Tupuca (tupuca.com), cash or credit card payment

Bids are submitted through a secure and encrypted connection, which prevents SODIAM and the producer from being able to see the value of any bid before the closing of the submission period.

The bidding currency / value is in United States dollars ($) and a bid must be entered in respect of individual lots and not in respect of a combination or aggregate number of lots.

Bids can be entered in value per carat amount ($/ct) or in total value per lot ($); whichever field is entered; the other field is automatically populated.

Bids can be submitted, modified, or withdrawn at any time up until the end of the bid submission period.

Once the submission period has ended, any bid is final and shall stand as an offer to buy the lot in respect of which the bid is made.

You shall not receive a notification e-mail for the bids submitted, nor at the closure of the submission period.

In order to be protected from inadvertently over-stretching your budget and be able to bid with full confidence, you may predefine a spending limit, i.e. the maximum amount you would be prepared to buy at the sale.

In case you have submitted several successful bids and the total amount of the lots won exceeds your spending limit, SODIAM shall then reduce your total purchase to an amount that is below your pre-defined spending limit.

To do so, SODIAM shall allocate to you one or several lots for which you have submitted the highest bid by the highest margins relative to the second highest bidder or otherwise, so that the total value won does not exceed the pre-defined spending limit.

The minimum value of the spending limit shall not be lower than the value of the highest individual bid submitted. This means that if you place an individual bid, which is higher than your previously defined spending limit, the spending limit will then be automatically increased in order to match that individual bid.

You may activate, deactivate, or modify your spending limit at any time prior to the end of the bid submission period.

After the closure of the bid submission period, SODIAM opens the submitted bids in the presence of representatives from the producer, ENDIAMA, and the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum.

SODIAM may call any bidder and record an oral confirmation of either the total submitted value for all lots, or of the total submitted value for each bid placed. This second factor confirmation of the bids submitted through the online platform is a random verification procedure performed for internal auditing and security purposes.

The highest submitted bids on each offered lot are then considered and subsequently accepted or rejected by the producer.

Where two or more bidders have submitted the same winning price, SODIAM shall contact by phone each customer informing them that they are joint-highest bidder with one or more parties and offer them the opportunity to review their bidding price. Should the joint-highest bidders be unreachable or decide to keep the same bid within twenty minutes after having been notified, SODIAM shall allocate the lot for which equal bids have been submitted to the joint-highest bidder that has won the highest value during that particular sale. If none of the joint-highest bidders have submitted a winning bid on another lot, SODIAM shall then decide by drawing of lots, which of the bidders shall be the winner.

As soon as practically possible, but nevertheless, within one working day after the closure, SODIAM shall notify successful bidders by phone and/or e-mail.

As far as public disclosure of the results is concerned, it is ultimately up to the producer to decide to share the selling prices or not. SODIAM is therefore entitled, but not obliged, to publish the results of the sale.

If it does so, in order to avoid arguable price discovery behaviours among bidders, the final selling price for each lot is shared online via the bidding platform only and only against submitted bids of reasonably-acceptable value. Concretely, this means that bidders will only be able to see the final selling price of the lots for which they have submitted a bid, and only provided that the submitted bid is higher than 75% of the selling price.

Winning customers may only pay through a different company if that legal entity is already registered with us and already linked to the invoiced company via a Unique Identification Code (UIC).

In such case, successful bidders may also split payments between the different registered entities.

Invoices must be paid within five working days after receipt.