Alrosa invested $2.8 billion – 60% of the miner’s total capital investments – in underground mines and other core production facilities in 2016. According to Diamond World, about $1.2 billion was spent on “technical upgrade and replacement of worn-out equipment”.
The company spent about $930 million in the construction of the Udachny underground mine while also supporting existing facilities at Mir, Internatsionalny, and Aikhal underground mines.
One of Alrosa’s largest investment projects in 2016 was to start developing a new primary diamond deposit – Zarya. Additionally, Alrosa “is still actively working to establish a diamond mining facility on the deposit of Verkhne-Munskoe kimberlite field”, in the Far East of Russia. Alrosa also said that the Mir underground mine has “reached its design capacity of 1 million tons of ore per year, its proved reserves will be sufficient until 2057”.
