Diamonds accounted for 8.7% of the country's nominal gross domestic product of $5.6 billion in 1999 (second to petroleum, which accounted for 61.4%), and for 1.2% ($629 million) of the value of exports in 1999. Official reported diamond production in 2000 was 4.35 million carats, up from 1.23 million in 1997, despite the ongoing civil war and United Nations sanctions against illegally mined "conflict diamonds." The 1994 Law on Diamonds granted exclusive mineral rights for diamonds to Empressa Nacional de Diamantes de Angola (Endiama), the state-owned diamond mining company. Sixty-nine percent of the diamonds under government control in 2000 came from nine official mines; 31% were attributed to artisanal miners. The value of production was reported to be $398.5 million for the official sector and $347.6 million for the unofficial sector. In the early 1980s, about 30% of the diamond output was smuggled out of the country, primarily to Portugal. Diamond smuggling increased to $250 million in 2000.
Large iron ore deposits have been discovered in many areas. The deposits at Kassinga, with an estimated reserve of 1 billion tons of high-grade hematite iron ore, annually yielded millions of tons of ore exports before the civil war halted mining in 1975. Ferrangol, the state iron ore mining company, produced a slight quantity of ore in 1988; it has shown no output since. The largest diamond producer remained Sociedade Mineira de Catoca Ltda. (SMC, an Endiama-Russian-Brazilian-Israeli venture), with output of approximately 1.5 million carats in 2000 from its Catoca kimberlite pipe, south of Saurimo. Reserves in the Catoca kimberlite were estimated to be at least 40 million carats. The mines in Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul provinces, previously controlled by UNITA rebel forces, were opened to foreign companies for exploration and development in 1996, and an Endiama-De Beers venture announced the discovery of 17 new kimberlites there in 2000. These areas contributed about $400 million to the annual $1.1 billion value of diamond production. SDM, an Endiama-Australian-Odebrecht venture formed in 1995 to mine alluvial diamonds in the Cuango River Valley, near Luzamba, produced 210,000 carats of high-quality diamonds in 2000 and 185,000 carats in 1999. Other such ventures saw their operations frequently suspended because of security problems. A feasibility study of the proposed Camafuca kimberlite estimated 23.24 million carats of diamonds valued at $109 per carat. Salt production has remained steady at 30,000 metric tons for several years. Clay, granite, marble, and crushed stone were also reportedly mined throughout the country. The country is also rich in nickel, platinum-group metals, magnetite, copper, phosphates, gypsum, uranium, gold, asphalt, and feldspar, but areas have been off-limits to exploration during the civil war.