Severalmaz, the Lomonosov mining and processing division of Alrosa, said that in the first half of this year, it had increased its production with 21 percent to more than 1.9 million carats of rough diamonds, 340,000 carats more than in the same period of 2018. In January-June, the Lomonosov mining and processing division mined 1.8 million tons of ore and processed almost 1.7 million tons.
More than 700 of rough diamonds larger than 10.8 carats (specials) were recovered. The largest of them were two gem-quality diamonds weighing 69 and 43 carats. The revenue of these individual stones can reach $200,000-300,000 per stone.
"In the first half of the year, we delivered good results in diamond mining due to the involvement of deeper horizons with higher diamond grades at both kimberlite pipes. The average diamond grade has increased by more than 25 percent to 1.13 carats per ton of ore compared to the first half of last year," commented Andrey Pismenny, CEO of Severalmaz. The share of Severalmaz's total output constitutes 10.9 percent of Alrosa's total production. ...