Chinese-owned mining company Sociedade Niobonga – Comércio Geral is building new homes for residents of an area it means to mine for niobium near the southwestern Angolan town of Quilengues, Angop says, citing a local government official, Adriano Alberto Pedro.

A report carried by the Angolan state-run news agency on Monday quotes Mr Pedro as saying the company is preparing the site where it will build initially 104 homes, each containing 400 square metres of floor space.

Mr Pedro said almost 2,500 people belonging to 181 households living in over 1,100 dwellings around Mount Bonga were due for resettlement.

He said Niobonga would build a reservoir and niobium processing facility on the mine site, with a view to starting mining there sometime after August.

Niobonga is also building 28 km of road between the mine and Quilengues, which is due to open by next month, Angop says.