Russian mining giant Alrosa has announced that its diamond production for Q1 2018 totalled 7.4 million carats – down by 17% year-on-year.
During the period, Alrosa sold 13.3 million carats of diamonds, including 10.1 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of $154 per carat, and 3.2 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price of $8 per carat. Rough and polished diamond sales amounted to $1.582 billion and $23.7 million, respectively.
Igor Sobolev, First Deputy CEO of Alrosa, said that the key factors behind the reduced production where the shutdown of the Mir underground mine following the August 2017 accident, processing of lower grade ore from the Jubilee pipe and termination of processing of ore from the Udachny open-pit after open-pit mining there was completed. He added that the company’s “key expansion projects” at Udachny underground mine and Severalmaz “demonstrated an increase year-on-year. Production plan for FY 2018 is 36.6 million carats”.
